


Strings of Fate

by PurpleBooks58



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-02-15 23:28:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18679480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurpleBooks58/pseuds/PurpleBooks58
Summary: Many things happened with the rise of Ouranous. The gods fell, demigods died and Mortals barely blinked before being massacred. However, Lord Chaos found a beneficial way to approach the situation. Time travel. He selected nine people worthy of saving the world. It was only a matter of if they were strong enough to defeat an evil stirring far longer that Gaia.





	1. Last Resort

XXX

As Clotho observed the present, she turned to her sisters. Atropos was glaring at her scissors and Lachesis simply frowned. "This was an unexpected turn of events."

"How, exactly, do you think Ouranous evaded our sights?" The sisters glanced at each other, every single one of them reaching the same conclusion.

Clotho looked up. "Lord Chaos. We know you are here."

There was silence, but suddenly a formless being, of shimmering black fog materialized out of nowhere. "Lady Clotho, Lady Lachesis, Lady Atropos. I see you've found me out."

His voice seemed to reverberate around the room, despite this being in a plain not even a primordial could reach. They examined the Creator. "What are your plans, Lord?"

"This future was doomed to fail the second Kronos' mind was taken over again," he said. "We both know they'd have failed in an unprepared fight against Ouranous. They barely defeated Gaea. Now that he's back, look at the devastation he had caused. The majority of the demigods are dead. The mortals are wiped out entirely. The gods are in chains. The remaining titans and monsters are barely thriving in Tartarus. If they knew, the earth wouldn't even exist anymore. Therefore, I hid this from the minds of everyone."

"And?" asked Lachesis.

Chaos seemed to move an inch and strings appeared on the table. "These are the demigods, and mortal, I believe will be able to save the world, with the assistance of time travel and the experience of this abominable future." They observed to observe the strings.

The electric blue string of Luke Castellan.

The white string of Thalia Grace.

The black string of Nico di Angelo.

The yellow string of Will Solace.

The red string of Clarisse La Rue.

The rainbow string of Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

The storm grey string of Annabeth Chase.

And the sea green string of Perseus Jackson.

"Nobody else?"

"Too suspicious," he explained. "The Romans, however. I do not believe we will have any problems on their side. But..." the purple string of Reyna Ramirez Arellano appeared. "A necessary precaution, I believe."

"They will keep the knowledge of the future, I take it?" asked Clotho.

"Along with something else," Chaos said. "For each of them, to help contact each other mentally, I shall give them a tattoo on their left bicep. Nothing much. Just an Othello. They shall retain their weapons, and the versions in that time will mysteriously disappear. Excepting one..." said Chaos. "Also, to simplify things, have Thalia Grace's and Luke Castellan's birthday moved back a couple of years."

Lachesis raised an eyebrow. "Playing matchmaker, Chaos?"

A ghost of a smile appeared on his formless body. "We all know their destiny is together, not apart."

"Should we inform them of the mind control on Kronos' part?"

"I've already paid their souls a visit. They know enough."

Clotho looked at her sisters once more before she planted a symbol on the compiled strings. They glowed, before they all regrew to their original sizes.

"Let the games begin," Lachesis mumbled.

"You need to stop watching movies," Atropos said, without looking up from the strings. A smile graced her features, however, as she said, "may the odds ever be in your favours, young heroes."

XXX

Percy particularly disliked living, he found. Really, the Underworld was so much... better. He didn't have to deal with problems and... well, problems.

He was five years old when he awoke. He wondered if there was anything significant about this but when he got up his mother (yay, she's alive!) started talking about a man named Gabe. Percy was... reluctant, at first when he realised what he must do.

But then Percy considered the very epitome of ugliness (figuratively and literally) that was Gabe Ugliano.

When his mother told him she'd be going to work and her neighbour was going to watch him, he slipped away when their neighbour buried herself with work. He grabbed clothes and a picture of himself and his mum.

He couldn't be selfish to his mum. He couldn't make Sally Jackson suffer from Gabe again. And with a pained look he ran.

He forced himself not to look back.

XXX

Seeing his sister again was not something Nico had prepared himself for. But she had hardly seemed to care, though, too engrossed in the games and distractions offered by the Lotus Hotel.

The first thing he did was slip out of the hotel, unnoticed.

Using the Hotel Card, he opened a bank account that'd be used to fund their explorations when everything really began. He also got another and transferred the money onto this, as well. With the assistance of the mist, nobody questioned why a ten year old was opening a bank account, did not press the need for paperwork and why he was in possession of that many billions. Indeed, the Lotus Hotel Casino was in possession of a lot of funds.

Following that, he checked the date. 2/8/1998. In roughly eight years everything would really start. He had time to plan.

"You shouldn't remain in one place for too long." He looked up to see a flash of red hair.

"Rachel," he greeted the physically younger girl. "What are you doing here?"

"My father had a business deal going on. It was easy to slip away. I felt... something, drawing me here. It might be the... gift," she gestured to her arm. "I awoke last week, I think. I've tried to contact the others, but I don't think they're- oh. Hi, Percy."

"'Hey, Rachel, Neeks.'" Nico frowned. It felt as if his mind was being invaded, even though they couldn't see his memories.

"'That was entirely too convenient to have happened by pure coincidence.'" Rachel grinned with a 'guilty as charged' look on her face. '"Wait, this is actually real? I thought it was just a joke."'

'"Obviously not,"' Rachel told him. "You should get back to the Casino. We'll talk more when we're all in a secure place."'

'"Sounds good,"' he said, turning and taking the trip back to the Lotus Hotel and Casino.

Percy and Rachel began to explain what they knew. Apparently Percy had been the first to 'wake up', which was about a year and some ago. He had run away for some dumb reason. Something to do with keeping Gabe away. Sally would murder her son when she found out. Rachel had woken up recently and was acting as if everything was normal where her family was concerned. She told them she still had the Oracle in her, but wouldn't be spouting any prophesies anytime soon with Mrs. Castellan's current condition. In turn, he told them about the vault he'd just opened and that everybody who was due to come back in time had access, they need only give their names or use the mist.

'"We'll be prepared this time,"' Percy said.

'"And we'll win."

XXX

She and Percy seemed to be in the same boat. That was what Reyna had discovered when she decided to run away and go go Camp Jupiter earlier than he should have. He had told her his story and she'd honestly laughed. Reyna disliked being six, of course, but it had its perks. Like people not realising that you're the daughter of a powerful goddess and are, in fact, powerful.

Reyna enjoyed being back, when times were simple and war was not the only thing on people's minds.

She had re-met Jason and Octavian. That was fun. She grimaced. That line was held in contempt. Jason had been pretty much the same, but Jupiter did she forget how annoying Octavian was. She almost wished she had been there when he'd died. And was the one to pull that bloody lever.

'"No morbid thoughts,"' Percy said. '"You're practically projecting them to us."'

'"But it is Octavian,"' Rachel said, taking her side.

'"Well... yeah, I see your point."'

'"I really want Annabeth to hurry up and get here,"' Percy sighed.

'"...Why?"' She smiled at Nico's obvious train of thoughts.

'"Because we can't do anything without our master strategist. Why, what were you thinking?"' Percy was so... oblivious when it came to this.

'"Same as you!"' Rachel laughed at Nico's sarcastic tone.

Yeah, she smiled. War wasn't the only thing on their minds.

XXX

Coming back to life was not something that Will liked to do. He didn't know how Valdez did it. Will was currently five years old and he wished he wasn't. His mother was off... wherever she went and his stepfather was too busy drinking to pay him any attention.

'"Maybe you should run away."' Will jumped about five feet in the air.

'"Percy! You shouldn't shock him like that!"'

'"I blurted it,"' came the weak reply. Will relaxed when he remembered that Chaos had formed some sort of psychic connection between them.

'"Who's here?"' he asked.

'"Um... Percy, Nico, Reyna and, myself, Rachel,"' he nodded, though they couldn't see that.

'"Cool,"' he said.

Suddenly, he felt a weird, pulling sensation. With a frown, he followed it.

When he got to wherever he was being pulled to, he did a double take. A nine year old was battling a telkhein. He grabbed his bow and drew it back but by then it was already dead.

It must've been a strange sight. Him, a child and her, a young girl both holding weapons. Anyone who wasn't a clear sighted mortal, demigod, monster or god would probably see nerf guns.

The girl had a mean look on her face, a familiar face, by the way. Her face lit up in recognition. "Solace?"

"Clarisse?" He offered her a smile. '"Nice to see you, daughter of Ares."'

'"You too, Son of Apollo."'

'"Wait, when did Clarisse wake up?"' Percy interrupted their reunion.

'"Five minutes ago. Where's Princess, Prissy?"'

'"Hasn't woken up yet. I can't wait for her, though."' Will smiled at his friend's wistful tone.

'"But you have to,"' Rachel pointed out.

'"Unfortunately,"' Percy agreed.

He saw Clarisse raise an eyebrow. '"Wow, big word. Where'd you learn that from?"'

'"Wise Girl."'

Clarisse barked a laugh. "Should I have asked?"

Will grinned and said, "no, you really shouldn't have."

XXX

The first thing Thalia did when she awoke was punch a significantly younger Luke in every available surface. When he was satisfactorily black and blue, she extended her hand to assist him in getting up.

"Good to see you, too, Thals. Wow, you as a six year old is scarier than you as a teenager," she glared at him.

"You're lucky I don't have my bow, Lucas."

He looked down. "I... I am sorry, Thalia."

"About which part? How you betrayed us to run off with Kronos? How you stole two of the Big Three's weapons of powers and made it seem that Percy was behind it?! Or how about how you poisoned my tree? Or how you offered your body up as a shell for him to do as he pleaded?!"

He stared at his feet. "I'm sorry," he said. "For everything."

Thalia sighed. She stepped forward. He tensed, awaiting the blows which never came. The young girl offered a small smile before embracing him. "I know, Luke." After withdrawing, she said, "but if you do anything like that again, I'll cut off your manhood and feed it to Cerberus."

He was silent and pale. "Artemis sure rubbed off on you, huh?"

"You got it," she grinned. The six year old turned around, surveying their surroundings. "Let's go find Annie."

XXX

When Annabeth first 'awoke' after everything, she found herself in an abandoned warehouse, a hammer desperately clutched in her hands. She then noticed the monsters and before she could process the fact that she had just time travelled, she went into full battle mode. Despite her newly seven year old body being unused to battle, she pushed herself and they were soon dead. Or, she thought so, at least. A monster had sneaked up on her and was about to attack when she heard a screech and turned around to see it explode into dust.

Then she caught sight of the two people in front of her. A roughly ten year old boy and and a six year old girl stood in front of her. She looked at the blond haired, blue eyes boy and the girl with electric blue eyes and spiky hair. They smiled at her. "Hey, Annie."

A sob tore through her body as she wrapped her arms around the two. They remained like this for a good ten minutes before she finally drew backwards. Her face was red as she said, "you two are younger."

"And wiser," said Luke, ruffling her curls. He produced the knife from his bag. "I believe this is yours." Her grin was toothy as she grasped it.

"How long have you two been back?"

"About a month," Thalia said. She glanced around. "Come on, we need to get to a safe place. Then we can contact the others."

"Didn't Cha-" Annabeth elbowed Luke. "You-Know-Who say we can do it mentally?"

"Yes," she nodded. "Remember, names have power."

"I've been dead for a while," he defended. They glanced around the warehouse.

"Please tell me we can make this place our base of operations?" Thalia asked, grinning excitedly.

"Well, it is pretty out of the way..."

"Yes!" Thalia exclaimed.

"But what about monsters?" Luke asked.

Thalia opened up her bag. "He gave this to me. I didn't understand, but it seems the Creator is awesome!" She produced a plant.

"I can't tell if I prefer her as an eternally fifteen year old or six year old," Annabeth said.

"Hey!" Thalia said, indignantly ruffling her metaphorical feathers.

"You are," Luke agreed. "But we need to place this down. Whatever it is."

"Basically, it's my pine tree but not as cool," Thalia said. "Only demigods and clear sighted mortals -ones who we reveal it to, mind you- can see it." She bounced off to plant it outside the warehouse.

Annabeth awkwardly glanced at Luke. "You know, you're still in trouble for turning to Kronos."

"I already have bruises from Thalia," he protested. Annabeth shook her head.

"Don't worry. I'm just going to make you read the Iliad," he shrugged. "In English," Annabeth clarified with a smirk. Luke paled dramatically. "And then the Odyssey and then-" he covered her mouth.

"The description is worse than the torture."

Annabeth giggled as Thalia returned. "So, how do we even talk to each other in our minds, anyways?"

Thalia shrugged. "Just shout their names in your brain and see if they get annoyed." She didn't miss the grin and wink Thalia shot Luke. They had definitely talked with the others.

'"PERSEUS JACKSON!"' It definitely worked, because both of her friends winced at how loud she was.

'"What? Annabeth?"'

'"Hi,"' she said simply. '"You guys have been so unproductive. Alright, so here's the plan: Clarisse will go to Camp, as well as Will, Luke and I. I want Percy and Rachel here and Thalia will spend a year in the Lotus Hotel so Percy can surpass her in age. Nico, remain there. Reyna, continue whatever you're doing, we'll go into a more in depth plan on your part later. Anything to contribute?"'

She wished they were here so she could see their faces. "No," Thalia finally said. "I think that's it."

"Good," she smirked. "So, Thalia, what do you think about winning a war?"

"I happen to like that idea."

XXX

At four in the morning, a seven year old sprinted up a hill, glancing around as she clutched an older boy's hand. Their two other companions both held their weapons, ready for battle. When they saw nobody around the eldest boy produced a tree and began to plant it.

'"I thought Thalia only had one?"' the companion holding a bow said. He looked suspiciously young.

'"No, Chaos gave her two protection trees,"' said the seven year old telepathically. '"She was hardly going to turn into a pine tree again."'

'"Obviously,"' said the broad nine year old girl.

'"Done,"' the last boy said. '"Now let's go before we're seen. Chiron will probably be able to see us, even with Thalia using the mist."'

'"Yeah,"' agreed the blonde seven year old. '"Let's go."'

A child of Nemesis shot up in bed. Demigod dreams sucked.

XXX

Exactly a month later, Annabeth made sure all of her plans were in place. Thalia and Nico would be spending a year and a couple respectively inside the Lotus Hotel while Percy surpasses them in age. Reyna began to make connections in her camp and rise in the ranks. Percy and Rachel (who'd ran away) were staying in their Headquarters for the foreseeable future. They had talked about rebuilding and decorating. She, Clarisse, Luke and Will would be going to Camp. They all had their cover story memorised.

As they came upon the Camp borders, they nodded in satisfaction at the sight of the tree. She glanced at them. They were all covered in dirt and were injured. A good physical cover.

'"Luke, on your left."' A cyclops made to attack the son of Hermes but the monster was long dead before it could even process what had happened.

'"Thanks, Annabeth,"' said Luke as they came upon their once home.

Clarisse glanced at them. "Do you think it's real? What the boy said, I mean."

Will shrugged. "Hopefully," he looked up wistfully. "A place where we don't have to deal with those..." he made a face. "Things..."

"We'll be safe?" Annabeth asked with a child like voice nobody could prove wasn't real.

"Yeah," said Luke, smiling. "I think so."

'"Damn, we are good actors,"' Clarisse smirked internally, though on the outside she was the picture of awe, fear and anticipation.

'"Indeed,"' Annabeth said. She drew in a deep breath. '"Let's go home, now."'

"Who are you?"

(A/N What do you think? Yay, or nay? Tell me your opinions on this story. Ask any questions you have.)


	2. Plotting

XXX

Percy lifted up two paint buckets. "What do you think?"

Rachel examined the colours. "No to the blue. Your room, bathroom and the kitchen is already that colour. I think we should use grey, white or black instead of green in here." He glanced around the meeting room with a frown. "Green will probably distract you guys. You know, the ADHD?"

Percy nodded in understanding. "They are boring colours." Putting down the buckets, he immediately made a beeline for the grey. Rachel released a snort but did not protest as they began to paint.

She and Percy had spent the last month in this warehouse. The others were all on their selective missions so they were all alone. When Percy began to get bored, she suggested they renovate the place. They were just painting, now. Only the meeting room, parlour and gym were left to finish, then they'd start with electric stuff and then the furniture.

'"I forgot how annoying having no power was,"' Percy grinned goofily at Annabeth's voice. She found it strange that they could hear their friends' voices, without them physically being present.

'"My sentiments exactly,"' Reyna said. Rachel grinned, drawing the paint roller up and down.

'"At least you two don't have to deal with this old fart,"' Thalia complained. '"He's... like, ancient."' Rachel giggled at Thalia's high pitched impression. 

'"Are you even dealing with each other or are you too busy playing goat simulator?"' Percy asked. 

Thalia grumbled. '"The latter..."'

'"So it's an invalid argument,"' Annabeth said. '"Clarisse... don't do that!"' She and Percy exchanged glances.

"Perhaps it's better we stay here," Rachel said. Percy nodded in agreement. 

XXX

Annabeth found that getting to know Chiron again was hard. As she wasn't technically a child and already knew more than she probably should about Greek Mythology, she was bored. She decided to hang out with Chiron, but she forgot how unforthcoming he was. Last time it had taken a year for her to get into his good graces.

After a month, she'd settled into a routine. Showing up her siblings with how much better she was (no, she was not conceited, she just knew this because of the future), hanging out with Clarisse, Luke and Will, avoiding chores and sometimes making others do them for her, mentally mapping out plans which she'd later have Nico write out in Italian, which she was learning and slowly rising to the top as counselor for the Athena cabin. An anomaly she found was that nearly all languages were easier than English with her dyslexia. While Ancient Greek came one hundred percent naturally, other languages such as Latin and Gaelic were fun to learn. Perhaps their brains weren't geared to Ancient Greek, but the old languages. She'd have to do some research.

Annabeth looked up when she heard a fight happening. It would've been normal if they weren't in the dining pavilion and if they weren't using fists. She recognised the son of Apollo and daughter of Ares immediately.

"Clarisse! Lee! Cut it out!" She tried to stop them but she was only pushed back. She huffed. '"I forgot how annoying having no power was."'

'"My sentiments exactly,"' Clarisse punched Lee's nose, and she was sure she heard an unsatisfying crack.

'"At least you two don't have to deal with this old fart. He's like... ancient." Thalia complained. 

 

Annabeth watched as Clarisse reached for her spear. '"Are you even dealing with each other or are you too busy playing goat simulator?"' She snorted at that.

'"The latter..."

"So it's an invalid argument," Annabeth said. Clarisse was about to maim Lee. '"Clarisee... don't do that!"' She cursed in Italian, courtesy of Nico, and grabbed her knife. Annabeth fired it through the air, and it scraped Clarisse's cheek, drawing blood.

Annabeth rushed forward, picking up her knife and pushing Lee away. "If you're going to act like an idiot, don't kill anyone!"

'"It was only a game-"'

"What is going on here?!" Annabeth cringed at Chiron's voice. It'd been a long time since she heard him raise it. In fact, he'd never spoken loudly ever since he had found them in this timeline.

Lee jumped at the chance to bury Clarisse five feet under. "It was Clarisse! She attacked me for no reason!"

"That's a lie!" Annabeth glared at Lee. She smirked in satisfaction when he shrunk back. "Clarisse would never attack unless provoked."

'"She would a long time ago,"' Luke interjected. '"But even she can mature."'

'"Oh, do shut up, Mr 'I'm so perfect'!"'  
Clarisse said. "And what really happened, Chiron, was that Fletcher over there insulted my entire family, including my father." She stared at Chiron as if to say, 'yes, I know how he is, I just know he hasn't bothered to claim me yet'. Only Luke had been claimed so far.

As if to prove a point, a boar and a spear suddenly appeared over Clarisse's head. Chiron sighed. "All hail Clarisse la Rue, daughter of the war god, Lord Ares." Annabeth refrained from snorting at the lackluster announcement. People kneeled but stood just as quickly.

Clarisse looked up in disappointment. '"Does this mean I can't pummel Fletcher?"' Annabeth elbowed Clarisse.

Maybe Camp would be harder than she anticipated.

XXX

After six months in the Lotus Hotel, Thalia found herself slightly bored. She couldn't leave, unfortunately, but there was nothing much to do after playing all of the games at least six times. She told the staff as such, and suddenly there was a new wing and a card with even more money on it.

She and Nico grinned as if they were children (which they physically were) and sprinted out of the room. Bianca was not with them, for she had already been distracted by the games. Thalia did like Bianca, but she was so easily distracted. Then again, so was everyone else.

'"Thalia,"' Rachel's voice entered her mind. '"Do you want a king sized bed with a canopy or no canopy?"'

'"Definitely without,"' Thalia grimaced at the very idea. '"Canopy sounds too princess-y."'

'"So, I take it Annie's gotten a canopy?"

'"Obviously,"' Rachel grinned in amusement.

'"How would you three feel about reading the English dictionary?" asked Annabeth. They all groaned in unison, even Rachel who didn't have ADHD. It was simply a universal opinion that you do not read for fun. Especially English.

'"I forgot how annoying it is to be seven,"' announced Percy. '"You can't do anything!"'

'"Wait, if Percy's seven, why am I still in here? I'm six?"

'"I want to give it another couple months,"' Annabeth said. '"Then we'll have to get you to New York safely. We're then going to wait four years and we'll bring Nico out. Later on we'll get Bianca, too, if Hades hadn't already."'

'"When are we going to camp, though?"' asked Percy.

'"I want Percy to go when he's twelve, you when he's thirteen, Nico during the Christmas of that year and we'll bring Rachel around when she has to get the Oracle, fully."'

'"Fully?"' Reyna asked.

'"I have the majority, but not the prophecy making part,"' said Rachel.

'"But do you spew green smoke?"' Rachel snorted.

'"I'll have to check."

Grinning, Thalia began to play the games in front of her. She found herself totally engrossed, and was curious why she'd ever been bored in the first place.

XXX

Reyna became good friends with practically everyone (excluding Octavian), but when she ran into her sister... that wasn't fun. The Amazons had come for visit. And her sister had joined earlier than she had originally.

While the queen of the Amazons was discussing things with the praetors, she had tried to blend in but she'd been spotted.

Reyna bit her lip and shook her head, pointing to the respectful formation they'd made. She couldn't just abandon her faction to say hi to her sister.

After the official introduction, she slipped away, hoping to avoid the inevitable confrontation. She loved her sister, but she didn't want to deal with her reaction. But Hylla found her, nonetheless.

"Reyna..."

'"Is now too late to go to the Greek Camp?"'

'"Yes,"' Annabeth said. "Why?"'

'"Hylla is here,"' Reyna said. 

'"Oh. Well, have fun!"'

"Hello, Hylla," she sighed. Her sister stalked forward, grasping her arms and examining her. 

"Why?" asked her sister. "Why did you leave?! You left me with him!"

Reyna had to think quickly. "I went out, for air," she began to explain, squirming in Hylla's grip. "I only meant it for a couple of minutes, but then I got lost and somehow I ended up on a boat." This wasn't incorrect. She'd used a boat to get from Puerto Rico to California. "The next thing I know, I'm here and apart of this... place."

"I went searching for you," Hylla said, choking as tears fell. "I thought you were dead!" Hylla pulled her into a hug. "I thought you were dead."

XXX

Percy narrowed his eyes at the battle plan in front of him. Annabeth had created it and Rachel had put the chess pieces in place. He and Thalia would be going to the Sea of Monsters, soon. Annabeth had already decided to have Luke 'side' with Kronos, so the poisoning of the protective tree would probably happen in the future.

'"How long do you think it'll take?"' Percy asked Rachel. She handed them a backpack each filled with necessities. They'd managed to filter ambrosia, nectar, weapons and armour into their base over the past year.

'"A week, at least. Knowing you two, through, a day."' Percy laughed, adjusting his armour. He was physically nine and Thalia was eight, so it was weird to wear armour. He'd grow used to it eventually, though.

"What'll you be doing?" Thalia asked while Percy checked on their boat. It was a speed boat they'd bought with enough room for them to have their own rooms and one for any stowaways. 

"Might visit Nico, or perhaps go to California," she shrugged. Rachel didn't have any scent so she'd be safe from monsters, and she could enter New Rome safely. Rachel got a glint in her eyes. "Perhaps bankrupt my father's horrid company!"

'"See you,"' Percy said, hugging his friends. Thalia followed his actions. '"Try not to cause too much damage."'

'"I should be the one saying that!"'

'"I'm not the one plotting!"' Chuckling, Percy hopped onto his boat. He smiled slightly as Thalia joined him. '"How would you like to meet a certain cyclops?"'

XXX

'"He's ugly,"' Thalia commented when she saw Polyphemus. Their journey was surprisingly easy, excluding a couple run ins with monsters. Okay, many run ins. It wasn't the worst they'd seen, though.

'"I know what you mean,"' Annabeth said. '"Do you have my hat?"' 

'"Wearing it now,"' said Percy. "Yo, meathead!" Thalia snorted internally as the cyclops turned away from his sheep dumbly.

"Who said that?"

"Nobody!" The cyclops snarled, darting forwards. This gave Thalia enough time to sneak around him and towards the tree the golden fleece lay on. She dodged a sheep, climbing the tree to pick it up. She forgot that it was actually heavy. Grunting slightly, Thalia signalled to the general air as she couldn't see Percy and she began to cross the bridge.

She smirked as Riptide lodged itself in Polyphemus' already damaged eye, so any chance he had of spotting her was miniscule. Now she had to deal with these sheep. Really. Flesh eating sheep. Whoever came up with this...

She had lightning strike in the surrounding area, keeping the sheep away as she raced for the boat. Getting there, she stored the fleece in the captain's quarters and ran back to meet Percy. "Oh, gods!" Percy screeched dramatically, coughing as if in pain. "You've killed nobody!"

While Polyphemus was busy celebrating his 'victory', Percy and Thalia sneaked onto the boat. '"That was a lot easier than last time,"' said Percy, removing Annabeth's Yankees cap. Athena had given her it about a month ago.

'"Last time, you were a twelve year old fool with hardly any experience. Now you're a twenty something year old fool with lots of experience,"' Annabeth said. '"When you get back put it on the tree. Rachel, where are you?"'

'"With Nico. We were just discussing how to take down my father's company from behind the scenes. Perhaps we could form our own company."'

'"And offer demigods jobs here," Nico said. '"We'd have business portions, sports, gardening and other things."'

'"Work on that,"' Annabeth said. Percy checked on the controls, nodding in satisfaction. '"Until we heard of New Rome, demigods were sent out into the world with nothing, maybe a fake diploma for year rounders."'

'"We could supply them college funds or set up our own college or..."' Percy zoned out as Annabeth went into smart mode.

He glanced at Thalia. "Uno?"

"How about Monopoly? It'll distract us longer." she said. He produced it from one of the bags. Yes, they packed board games.

"Loser has to drink a concoction of the winner's choice?"

"You're on!" Thalia grinned.

XXX

'"Are you sure?"' Annabeth repeated for the millionth time. They were in the elevator and about to enter Olympus. '"Luke, you don't have to do this."'

'"I do,"' he replied, hugging her slightly. '"All will be fine, Annie." Annabeth huffed at her name, sending a worried look to Clarisse.

'"Princess, if you don't stop acting like such a mother I will pummel you,"' Annabeth's lips twitched.

'"Is that a challenge?"'

'"A promise,"' smirked Clarisse.

Percy suddenly interrupted their conversation. '"I just realised, Luke's never been given a quest, and he hasn't been feeling much negative emotions for the gods."'

'"But I've been projecting my thoughts,"' Luke said. '"Kronos heard and he found I was a prime candidate for his army. It was much like last time, but I'm actively projecting my 'hatred'."'

'"Should we even say Kronos?" Will asked. '"It is Ouranous behind everything."' 

Annabeth quirked a grin. '"But we don't know that."' Luke squeezed her hand as they entered the throne room. She pretended to be interested in what was going on, but all of the happenings were in her brain currently so she was bored. '"Anyone else disliking these overly dramatic speeches?"'

'"I'm not jealous, Wise Girl,"' said Percy.

Clarisse threw her an astonished look. '"Annie isn't interested in smart people talking about smart things?"'

'"The worlds ending,"' volunteered Thalia.

'"Shut up, you guys,"' she said. "I already know all of this stuff and nothing they say is of any real importance."'

'"Pay attention!"' Luke suddenly said. '"Your mother is looking, Annabeth!"' She tuned into the conversation.

"The Underworld is blocked up with all of these deaths and-" she shook her head. It was all the same. Hades complaining about death, Zeus dramatically claiming their attentions, Poseidon and Athena arguing endlessly and Dionysus glaring at his diet coke can.

A couple of hours later, Luke disappeared from their groups. They were split up so nobody except herself, Clarisse and Will noticed. Annabeth, meanwhile, was forming more plans. She found she did that a lot.

They needed to form a block between Kronos' mind and Ouranous, and the same with Gaia. Many gods could do it, but the question was who. They could ask anyone, but they should go with the much more powerful gods. None of the Olympians, however. They were easily compromised and only a couple would entirely be on their side. She could choose Hestia or Hecate... but they'd need to obtain a favour before asking anyone. Maybe Hades...

Time passed quickly as she plotted and soon enough Luke was with them, nodding in confirmation. '"It's done."'

'"Alright..."' Annabeth continued to come up with strategies. Perhaps they could obtain a favour from Hades, somehow. She almost kicked herself. Returning the Helm of Darkness; obviously.

Annabeth was staring intently in front of her. They would not lose. She looked to Silena, Charles, Ethan, Luke, Grover, Clarisse, Chris and Will. She thought of Percy, Thalia, Nico, Bianca, Rachel, Reyna, Jason, Piper, Leo, Hazel, Frank and there were so many more.

Indeed, they would not lose. Ever again.

(A/N I can't decide if this is a filler or development chapter XD. Tell me what you think and if you have any criticism. Don't worry, things will start really moving in the next chapter.)


	3. Should've Touched Wood

XXX

Percy stared up at his mother's apartment door. The plan was for him to spend the spring with her, and that'd probably be adequate time for a Satyr to find him. Rachel had done some digging and found where she lived now. Drawing in a deep breath, he knocked.

The door was opened by a familiar male. Paul Blofis. Apparently his mother had met him earlier than before without Percy around. Or maybe they'd met each other but hadn't started hanging out because of Gabe. "Hello," he smiled. "Is Sally Jackson here?"

"Blofis, actually. And you are?" So they'd married already? Cool.

"Percy J-"

"Paul, who's at the door?" Percy tensed at his mother's voice. When she came into view, he hesitated to meet her curious stare. When their eyes met, however, she let out a gasp. "No..." Sally advanced forward, her movements terrified. "Are you...?"

"Hey, mom," he said. Sally let out a sob and wrapped him up in her arms.

After standing there in his mother's arms for a while, she finally beckoned him inside. "Where have you been? Why did you leave? Are you alright?"

Percy stared at his hands. "I can't remember what made me leave, exactly. I do remember a woman, though. I think she wore a shawl or a hat around her head. She took me... somewhere and kept me there for a year, I think. Then, one day, she attacked me and I grabbed the nearest weapon and the next thing I know she's dust." He looked up to meet his mother's horrified stare. "She told me what I am. And who my father was. Or should I say is."

"Wait... what?" Percy glanced at Paul and face palmed. He forgot the man was here. "I'll explain later," Sally said with wide eyes.

"I was found by a group of people like me. We went to New York but..." Percy glanced down as if embarrassed. "I forgot where you lived." Sally nodded in understanding. 

"How did you find where I am, now, then?"

"My friend, Rachel, she was the first to find me. She did some digging and here I am." Sweet and simple, just as Annabeth had said.

"I'm just... glad." His mother gathered him in her arms once more and Percy was content with that.

'"Aw, is the mama's boy happy?"'

'"Shut up Clarisse! And yes, I am a mama's boy."'

Indeed, he was content with just that.

XXX

"Hail Reyna Avila Ramirez Arellano. Praetor of New Rome! Hail Jason Grace. Praetor of New Rome!"

She couldn't contain a grin as she was crowned (or recrowned) Praetor. Everyone, excluding Octavian, were currently letting go of their respectful demeanors as they celebrated the new Praetors. 

'"Congratulations, Reyna,"' Annabeth said. 

'"Don't get drunk again,"' Nico said. '"Or else I'll drag you from New Rome and force you into this hotel that I'm unfortunately residing in."' She cringed at that. Once, at a Greek Party after the Giant War, the Stoll brothers had spiked her drink and things had descended from there.

'"Do shut up, Nico,"' Thalia said. '"You'll be out of there by the time summer is over. And you barely notice time in that place."'

'"So?"'

'"Nico,"' Will sighed. Reyna was smiling contentedly as she watched the Romans begin to party. Meanwhile, she and Jason were sitting out the transactions.

"How'd we get here?" Jason asked, observing their fellow Romans. "I remember coming here as a kid. Everything was so different. And now I'm here, Praetor of New Rome." Originally, they'd become Praetors about six years from now. Strange that a ten year old and a nine year old were in charge of an entire camp. In fact, suspicious.

With narrowed eyes, she touched the Omicron on arm. Very suspicious.

Upon touching it, she felt the Omicron heat up. ":Indeed, Reyna. I have made changes to this world. Despite the sheer talent of you demigods and mortal, the cards you have been dealt were impossible.:" She didn't know how to respond to that.

":Thank you, Lord Chaos.:" The Omicron cooled and with that her conversation with Chaos came to a close. '"Annabeth, did you know Chaos has decided to play literal god with the world and make changes? No wonder I'm Praetor so early."'

She could practically feel the gears of Annabeth's mind turning. The girl was like clockwork, really. '"I'll have to think about it."'

She turned to Jason. "The Fates led us here, and we followed." Overhead, the sound of distant thunder clashed with the roar of waves as eagle and horse began their true fight.

XXX

Clarisse watched Ethan Nakamura. The boy definitely distrusted her, as well as Will, Luke and Annabeth. The way he looked at them, as if to say 'I know what you did'. She might've been paranoid, but paranoia was one of the reasons she survived as long as she did.

"Up for a sparring session, Nakamura?"

"I'm not much of a fighter, Clarisse," he said, looking down sadly. Oh gods. She understood why he joined the Titans, anyways.

"Don't be such a downer, Pirate."

He quirked an eyebrow curiously. "Pirate?"

"Yes, pirate. Now, come. I'm going to teach you how to fight."

"Why?"

She huffed. "Because I said so!" Grabbing his hand, she pulled him into the arena. He was a good fighter, yet nobody could ever break him out of his shell. Different from last time, probably something Chaos had changed.

Observing his stance, she scoffed. "Fix your shoulders and adjust your feet like I am. Yes, like that." He picked up his weapon and nearly toppled forwards.

Clarisse sighed. She had her work cut out for her. Thunder sounded and she frowned. She wished Prissy would hurry up and get here, deal with this whole lightning bolt mess and then the real fun would begin.

XXX

Percy sat in the living room with his mom when Annabeth suddenly said, '"Percy, a Satyr has sniffed you out and Grover has been sent for you."'

'"Where'd you learn that, Princess? By snooping?"'

'"My hat has its purposes,"' Annabeth sniffed. Percy grinned, turning to his mother.

"Mom, my friends told me about a place. Camp Half Blood. They said I should stay there during the summer so my scent isn't too strong here. To keep you and Paul safe." She looked contemplative at his last sentence, but still hesitant, for definite. She didn't want to give up her only son. Paul wasn't entirely believing of the Greek myths being real, but he at least gave them a chance instead of immediately writing Percy and his mother off as crazy.

"I... guess. But only for the summer. When do you think you'll leave?" Percy scratched the back of his neck. He didn't want to go. The past couple months had been amazing. They'd even recreated their blue traditions again.

"I haven't thought that far ahead. Tomorrow, maybe?"

Sally looked at him sadly. "Maybe next week? I can drive you and-"

"Mom," he said, laying his hand on her forearm. This was hard for him too. He'd just gotten his mother back. "I'll be fine."

"Right," she said. "You'll be fine." Percy didn't think she believed it.

"I'll IM you any chance I get."

"You promise?" she asked hopefully, her eyes shining with unshed tears. 

"I swear," Percy said. Sally pulled him into a hug.

"Right," she said, her voice just below a whisper. "You'll be fine."

About four hours later, Percy's bags were packed when a knock came at the door. His mother answered it. "Hello. May I come in?" Percy almost fist pumped. Grover! He missed his old pal. Who wasn't really his pal anymore.

Sally glanced at him carefully, but he nodded, sending her a warm smile. He hated to see her mother nervous or upset. A bit with curly hair and crutches hobbled inside. He mouthed "satyr" to his mother. Her eyes widened yet she didn't react.

Grover uncomfortably shifted. "I know this will sound strange but-"

"I'm a demigod," Percy interrupted with a slight smirk at Grover's shocked face. "My mother told me," Sally didn't object to the lie he told. He pointed to Grover's shoe, where he could just about make out his hairy legs from where the trousers and shoes connected. "Are you a satyr?"

"How did you-" Grover glanced at his feet. "Oh." He pushed aside his crutches and pulled down his pants. "You know why I'm here, then?" Grover said, nervously scratching his acne ridden face.

"Yes," said Sally. "Funnily enough, I was going to bring him tomorrow. Should I drive you two?" Percy wondered why she was lying. She sent him a look that conveyed, 'I know you're hiding something and I don't know what, but it better be good'. 

"Thank you, Mrs... I just realised I never got your names! I'm such a terrible protector!"

'"Grover's gone insecure on us,"' Percy said, sighing. He extended his hand. "I'm Percy Jackson. This is my mom, Sally. I don't know where Paul is. He's my stepdad."

"Cool! I'm Grover Underwood," Grover suddenly blushed awkwardly, nervously looking at the floor. "Do you have any cans? I forgot to pack them."

Sally looked bewildered but Percy nodded. He may have drunk three blue cherry cokes for this exact reason. He went to his room, grabbed his bag and the cans. A blushing Grover took them and began to slowly munch on one of the soda cans.

"Paul!" Sally called, still staring at Grover. "I'm driving Percy and his friend to Long Island. I'll be back later."

"Cool! Love you!"

"Love you too!" Sally said, grabbing her keys off of a table. "Do you two have everything?" Grover nodded, unable to speak due to the metal in his mouth. Percy just smiled, opening the door for her.

"We'll be fine, mom. Not like we're going to get attacked by the Minotaur or anything." He forgot to touch wood after saying that.

XXX

Of course the Minotaur came after them. Of course.

One second Sally had been driving in an atmosphere eerily familiar and suddenly their car just flipped over. Percy barely paused before checking his mom and Grover. The Satyr was muttering about enchiladas while his mother was struggling to stay awake.

He tried to open the door but the thing was jammed. Percy grunted, kicking at the car door. It took three hard kicks to push it open. He grabbed his mother's door and pulled her out. Grover blinked, disoriented, when Percy grabbed his arm. Rain battered down upon them, offering endless energy to him.

'"I might've jinxed myself,"' he said. 

"Food..."

"Grover, I need you to get my mom away from here. Bring her back to my home while I deal with the bull over there." Before the Satyr could protest, Percy pulled a pen from his pocket and to the Minotaur.

'"Percy, what did you do?"' Annabeth asked. Percy turned Riptide into w sword. 

'"I didn't send bull man after me, now did I?"' Percy got into a battle stance. With nostrils flaring, the Minotaur ran at him, blindly. '"Get my mom, please."' He sprinted towards the Minotaur, but at the last second he spun out of the bull's way, causing it to barrel forward. It toppled forwards, it's horn getting caught in the earth. Percy glared at the Minotaur, grabbing his horn and pulling as he did once before. It came out with a satisfying crunch. Percy threw the spoil away and spun away as the Minotaur uncomfortably tried to regain balance, almost hitting him in the process.

He saw a flash of golden curls and brown hair in the corner of his eyes. Percy swung his sword beside him, catching the unsuspecting Minotaur in the neck. The bull burst into golden dust, 

"And that's how it is done." Lightning flashed dangerously close to him. Percy scowled at it, running towards his unconscious mother. Grover was coming around, obviously not having experienced a bad hit during the crash.

Using a trick he learned, he gathered the rain in his palms and touched his mother's arm. Water trickled up, and she was suddenly fully aware. He repeated the process with Grover. '"I'll get her out of here,"' Clarisse volunteered. She took his mother's arm, allowing Percy and her a goodbye and hug before glancing around and deciding it was safe enough to leave camp long enough to go to New York. 

"Hey, Percy, Annabeth," Grover said, shaking slightly. "What just happened?"

"You're bringing Percy, here, to camp. I was never here, by the way." Annabeth sent him a smile, picking up the Minotaur horn. "Your spoil." She offered it to him.

He cracked a slight grin. "Keep it. My present to a beautiful lady such as yourself."

Annabeth blushed slightly. '"When did you become such a smooth talker?"'

'"Piper gave me pointers,"' he explained with a twitch of his lips.

'"Has McLean corrupted Perseus?"' Nico asked. Annabeth giggled slightly, winking at Percy before sprinting back to her cabin.

'"Nah, he's still oblivious,"' Thalia said. Percy offered a hand to Grover, who accepted.

'"You Greeks are..."' Reyna searched for a word.

'"Amazing? Brilliant?"'

'"I was think something along the lines of stupid and dumb?"'

'"That's just Percy,"' said Rachel. He whined softly.

'"Since when was it Bully Percy Day?"'

'"Since the Bull arrived,"' Luke laughed. He and Grover arrived at the tree.

"This is Camp?" Percy asked Grover.

"Yeah," the Satyr said softly. "This is home."

XXX

Placing the Minotaur horn under her bed, Annabeth stuffed her Yankees cap into her pocket and raced out to meet Grover and Percy. Everything was going according to plan. They didn't want Grover to go on this quest simply because they were something might be revealed. This wasn't Grover's second chance (probably Chaos who made it so this this was Grover's first quest) and he hadn't been carried by Percy to Camp.

"Who's this?" she asked, acting as if five minutes ago never happened. Grover was too busy hyperventilating as Will and Luke arrived.

"Percy Jackson," he said with a crooked grin.

"I'm Will and this is Luke. I see you've already met Annabeth. I'm a healer. Have you been injured in any way, shape or form?"

'"Nico, you're boyfriend is mothering me,"' Percy whined, though his face was blank.

'"He's not my boyfriend," both Will and Nico answered at the same time. She saw Will blushing, and could only assume Nico's pale face was suddenly a tomato.

"Let's just go to the Big House." She discreetly squeezed Percy's hand before walking ahead to the Big House. She wanted to kiss and hug him but she didn't know him, in the eyes of nearly everyone in this timeline.

Chiron opened the door and sighed at the sight of them. "You do know it's nearly past curfew. What are you-" he spotted Percy and Grover. "I see." Beckoning them inside, they followed him to where Dionysus was playing Pinochle with a can of soda beside him.

"I'm Percy Jackson," he introduced himself. 

"Chiron. And that is Mr. D." Chiron waved his hands for them to sit.

"D? As in..." Percy pretended to think. "Annabeth mentioned something about a god... are you Lord Dionysus, by any chance?"

'"What are you doing?"' asked Luke.

'"Giving a good first impression,"' her boyfriend said. '"Annabeth told me to do it."'

'"I didn't say to recognize who he was,"' she sounded exasperated, though she knew she was holding back a smile. 

Indeed, Mr. D puffed out his chest and sat up straighter. "Finally, one of you brats recognize greatness."

"Yes," Percy nodded. "I'm particularly fond of your myths. Great to read." Dionysus smirked.

"I like this one," he told Chiron in Ancient Greek.

'"I forgot, I'm an ignorant idiot who doesn't know Greek,"' Percy said dramatically. Annabeth kicked him under the table.

'"You are an ignorant idiot,"' Thalia said. '"And Annie! Stop teaching him big words! It makes him sound smart!"'

"So, Percy, what happened?"

He shrugged. "My mom told me about my dad a long time ago. She never said who he was, though. She thought me what little Ancient Greek she knew and mythology. A couple of days ago, she started acting really worried and then she said she was bringing me to Long Island. I had just finished packing when Grover arrived."

"Interesting..." Chiron had his thinking face on. "Any idea who your father is?" Percy shrugged. "Did anything of interest happen on your journey?"

"Nothing major," he said. Grover nearly choked.

"Nothing major? You killed the Minotaur! After a car crash!" Chiron looked mildly surprised while Mr. D raised an eyebrow in interest.

Luke looked at him in annoyance. "Don't try to be modest, Jackson. I'd rather you brag than never tell us anything."

"How did you kill it?"

Percy reached into his pocket. "My mom gave this to me. She said it was from my dad, but I always felt like she was describing Heracles, strangely enough, when she told me it's history." Chiron tensed.

"Did she tell you the name?"

"Anaklusmos," Percy said. "Riptide." Chiron sighed.

"I see," he exchanged a look with Dionysus. "You'll stay the rest of the night here, in the Big House. Then Luke will bring you to the Hermes Cabin, where you'll stay indefinitely."

"I'll show you the way," Annabeth volunteered. She led him upstairs to a random guest room, closing the door behind them.

Leaning forward, she kissed Percy. "I missed you, Seaweed Brain."

Percy kissed her softly. "I missed you, Wise Girl."

There was a knock on the door. '"You two better be decent,"' Luke joked, opening the door.

'"We're twelve,"' Annabeth frowned.

'"Physically,"' he replied.

'"Do I need to call Coach Hedge?" asked Reyna.

'"He told you?"'

'"Oh, he wouldn't stop complaining about kids these days,"' Nico said, laughing. '"Simply bringing you two up in the same sentence was enough to set him off."'

'"What did I miss?"'

'"It was a misunderstanding,"' Annabeth groaned.

'"What did he even think was going on?" asked Percy.

'"Percy..."' Annabeth sent him a meaningful look.

'"I think he's doing it on purpose," said Rachel.

'"Aww, how could you tell?"'

'"Even you're not that dumb, Percy," said Rachel.

'"I veto that!"' Thalia said. Rachel made a clicking sound with her tongue.

'"Yeah... Percy is that dumb."'

'"Hey!"'

(A/N Tell me what you think. I'm excited to implement flashbacks of the war with Ouranous, expect that soon. Give me criticism in the review section. Thanks for reading!

Also, in case you wanted to know, the ships are Percabeth, Thule, Solangelo, Clarisse/Chris. I'm not sure if I'll be pairing Rachel and Reyna with anyone. Tell me who you'd like them with or any other ships you'd like. Obviously, Percy had to lie and feign oblivion to a lot of Greek things. They can't exactly reveal that they knew each other and have some secret base of operations. Chiron and Grover are under the impression that Sally had Percy all this time. Poseidon will be confused at the sudden appearance of his son. He did check in on Sally, after all, she was the mother of his only demigod son.)


	4. Memories

XXX

Three days. It'd been three days after Gaia had been risen. After Leo had died. After the giants had been defeated. After Gaia had been destroyed. And nobody was doing well.

The Apollo campers were swamped with injured. The Ares campers were barely holding themselves together. The Aphrodite campers were reminiscent of hags. The Athena campers barely even looked at a book. The Dionysus campers could only slightly consume water. The Hunters could barely even look at one another, never mind a boy. The Hephaestus campers avoided the forge and Bunker Nine was out of the question. The Demeter campers forgot what cereal tasted like. The Hermes campers forgot how to prank or steal.

And then there were the specific demigods affected.

Nico di Angelo, Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson couldn't even get a wink of sleep without experiencing traumatic flashbacks of Tartarus. The son of Poseidon and daughter of Athena were hiding out in San Francisco with Percy's mother and stepfather and Annabeth' family. Nico had been hiding away.

Hazel Levesque, Piper McLean, Jason Grace and Frank Zhang never left their respective cabins.

Reyna Avila Ramirez Arellano would never look at the Romans the same again.

And speaking of the Romans, they weren't doing any better than the Greek. They all tried to be friendly and keep the peace, but tensions were running high.

It was only a matter of time until someone snapped.

But nobody anticipated the next threat to arrive. And so quickly, at that.

XXX

Olympus had been in chains by the time someone had found them. Percy had asked a favour of Iris that nobody's Iris Messages would go through for a while. He and Annabeth needed to be alone, so they went to stay with Annabeth's family. Sally and Paul had been enthusiastic to get away from New York for a while.

It'd been Nico to get to them. "I had a dream," the boy announced, melting from the shadows.

Percy blinked. "About... Tar... that place?"

"No," Nico said. "Will found me. He forced me to sleep. And then I had a dream about a voice. I would've thought it was from down there but the place I was in... it was different from there." Annabeth bit her lip, obviously deep in thought. "The voice talked about an uprising and that the sky would rise again. I don't know what that means."

"Sky? Uprising?" Annabeth said. "Gaia is a Primordial. Kronos had been cut into pieces. So it wouldn't be impossible... he's had millennia, too."

"Wise Girl?" Percy asked. Annabeth was frowning, before she turned to her bed she'd yet to use for sleeping.

"We're all going to go to sleep. I'm not sure... but I have my suspicions. And gods do I hope I'm wrong."

Her suspicions proved correct. Unfortunately.

"The Sky will rise again," said a deep voice. "Those weak minions of mine... if only my 'dear' son and 'lovely' wife had similar ideals to me. Then perhaps mind control wouldn't have been necessary..."

Annabeth bit her lip. If this was who she thought it was... but... mind control? She wasn't sure. "Yes... yes sire," a voice squeaked. She recognised this voice. But what was Hyperion doing talking with him... if it was him. But his children hated him. It certainly explained why he sounded so terrified. "Mother and Kronos were stupid."

The dark voice chuckled again. "Indeed. As are you. Come here, son. I believe you are in need of a lesson for failure to defeat the miniscule little ant Percy Jackson."

"No! Father! Please!" She cringed at the sheer panic and terror his voice echoed. It was well known he (if it really was him, she didn't want to accept it) was abusive of his children. In fact, he was probably the only person Kronos feared. If Gaia hadn't pushed him to attack his father...

It was ironic that she pitied one of her enemies at this moment. Who know a millennia old titan could fear a being as much as Hyperion obviously did.

As Hyperion released a blood curdling scream, she jumped up in bed. Glancing down, she saw Percy and Nico sleeping peacefully, if not squirming. She sighed.

Could it be...?

Suddenly, Percy jumped up in bed. He gasped for air. "Annabeth..." he said, seeing her. "Did you...?"

"Have a dream? Yes. What was your dream?"

Percy drew in a deep breath. "It was him. Tar-... Tarturas. And he warned me."

XXX

The second Percy saw him, Tartarus, again, he was rooted to the spot in fear. The being seemed to stare right through him.

"Perseus Jackson..." he shuddered. A monster using his full name was unnerving. This was simply terrifying. "There is not much time. He shall be resurrected momentarily and his hold over me will take over again."

"H-...he?" Percy could barely breathe. Even if this was only a dream. It was worse that he was alone.

"My brother. Gaia's husband. Tell your blonde friend. She'll understand. He is mind controlling us. Kronos, Gaia, myself. And he's rising. He will destroy everything. The Underworld, Olympus, the Sky and Earth. Nothing shall remain. You need to gather your troops and defend-"

Tartarus made a choking sound, before he net Percy's eyes, his eyes suddenly glowing an ominous icy blue. "Perseus Jackson." This was worse. This was much more terrifying. Percy was on the verge of a panic attack. He'd changed and he was worse.

"Olympus shall burn."

And with that, he awoke.

XXX

Nico came to shortly after Percy did, getting the gist of the story. He had just dreamed of the Underworld. Charon had been complaining when suddenly dozens of souls appeared, dead.

Dozens turned to hundreds. Hundreds to thousands. Thousands to ten thousands to hundreds of thousands. Millions to billions.

And suddenly the world's population was halved.

He didn't know what it was, but whatever had mind controlled, as Percy had claimed, Kronos and Gaia and Tartarus... had to be powerful. More than powerful.

When Percy finished his story, Nico said, "I had a dream, also. The population... it just... halved." Annabeth tensed, grabbing her bedside table and throwing it open. She grabbed her phone but she turned on live news coverage. There was nothing about sudden deaths.

"Have you felt anything?" Nico concentrated, but he felt no strong amount of deaths.

"No," he said. "But what does it mean?"

"We'll come back to it. I believe..." Annabeth glanced around, leaning forwards. "The primordial of the sky is behind this. I had a dream, as well. He talked about his wife and son not having the same ideals as him and mind control. Then he talked to another man, Hyperion, and the titan was terrified. I've never heard such a pitiful sound come from an immortal before.

Percy was frowning. "We have to go back, don't we?"

"Yes," he sighed. "Let's just hope the place isn't in flames by the time we get back."

XXX

Nico had essentially jinxed them.

When they came back, it was to a terrified Clarisse holding off at least a dozen monsters, just barely. Percy jumped forwards, assisting her in pulverizing the monsters.

"What happened?" Annabeth asked. She turned to camp and bit back a gasp. The place... it was on fire. The cabins were close to falling down and Thalia's pine tree was slashed in half. There were dozens wounded, and who knows how many dead.

Clarisse stared at them. "Where have you been? We were just attacked, wave after wave by monsters! The Romans just left a day ago! We could barely fight them off. I don't even know how we survived..."

Chiron galloped towards them. "We are to relocate to New Rome for the time being. Help heal the wounded... and collect the dead."

Biting back the lump forming in her throat, Annabeth stumbled towards the first body present. She almost screamed. It was... it was Grover! She looked at Percy with tearful eyes but he was watching someone else. Laying on the floor was Jason Grace... but weren't the Romans in New Rome?! Piper was slumped over him, shaking. That was the only sign she was alive.

And so many more were dead. Her siblings, Clarisse's siblings, Will's siblings, Katie's siblings, Travis's siblings. Everyone had lost something that day.

Little did they know that this wasn't even a quarter of their powers.

XXX

The next wave was the last. Yes, Ouranous had eradicated them in less than a week. This time, he'd appeared. This easily took out half of their already diminished troops. The Romans barely believed them when they told tales of the army which was stronger than any opponent any of them has ever faced times a million. Now they believed them.

Nico had been curled into a ball in the corner. Percy guessed he felt all of the deaths rather strongly. And he could only guess similar things were happening all over the world.

"Where are the gods?" he asked Annabeth. As the two of them had already faced the primordial which literally radiated terror, they could stand up straight. That couldn't be said about others.

"In chains," Ouranous boomed with a smirk. He wore casual clothing with sunglasses. Strange considering this guy was destroying them easily. "You mortals and gods stand no chance against me."

Maybe he was right. But Perseus Jackson could never go down without a fight.

Percy glanced at Annabeth momentarily, nodded, and sprinted towards the primordial, raising Riptide. Ouranous glanced at him, unimpressed. He backhanded Percy, sending him flying across the field. Percy hit his head, drifting in and out of consciousness.

Ouranous approached him, but Annabeth said, "it's true, then. You were mind controlling Kronos and Gaia. But how?" He smirked.

"They were easily fooled with a sense of false security while my essence was scattered. Gaia was easy to get to during her slumber and when I had the prophecy regarding Kronos' weak child defeat him, he was so paranoid that he left multiple chips in his armour." Annabeth's mind seemed to be spinning. Or perhaps that was Percy's. He rubbed his skull, struggling to stand.

Annabeth glared at Ouranous, seeming to ascertain something as she glanced at Percy. "And your lack of charisma couldn't convince them to join you of their own wills?" Her voice was sickly sweet. Percy managed to stand straight. He stumbled forwards.

Ouranous' eye twitched. He began to glow and advanced towards Annabeth. "Your head will make a good accessory on my wall." Annabeth held her drakon bone sword in front of her.

"But, of course, you won't kill me using a weapon. You're not capable of accomplishing such a feat." Ouranous scowled, a sword materialising out of air. It looked like the sky.

"I know that you're baiting me," said Ouranous, readying his battle stance.

"But it's working," said Annabeth. She raised her sword to defend herself as the primordial of the sky began his assault.

Percy stopped breathing momentarily as he saw Annabeth fight. She was barely holding him off, and Annabeth was one of the best fighters he knew. He could only stare in horror at the daughter of Athena. He didn't spot how nearly every demigod present was picked off, one by one. Only himself, Nico and Annabeth remained. Only those who had visited Tartarus survived.

Then Ouranous managed to stab Annabeth in the arm. She stumbled backwards, clutching her bloodied arm in pain. Ouranous grinned in victory. "I was going easy on you, little demigod." He raised his sword up to attack Annabeth, but Percy was already sprinting at full speed. Riptide stabbed Ouranous in the gut.

The primordial stopped, glaring at the weapon which protruded from his gut. He grabbed the tip of the sword, swiftly and simply pulling it through. He held the bloodied hilt with an indifferent look.

"I made sure you three survived for a reason," he said. "Tartarus!"

And then, he appeared. Ouranous smirked. "Take them away."

Percy hated every second of the torture. They'd survived the longest, remaining in Tartarus and being tortured every second of it. Every knife wound, gun wound, sword wound, river wound, spear wound and arrow wound was fresh in his mind, almost as agonizing as the emotional wounds.

Finally, after sixty seven days, forty one minutes and thirty four seconds, Ouranous appeared once more.

And that was when they died.

XXX

Percy was sweating and shaking as he sat up. Why did he suddenly remember? It wasn't like he'd forgotten. He had buried all of the memories in the back of his mind. But, suddenly it all just flew at him.

He glanced around his room, noting that it was around six in the morning. Everyone would be up in an hour, anyways. Swinging out of bed, he stumbled into the bathroom. He grabbed a cup of water, splashing it on his face. Feeling re-energized, he refilled the glass and took a drink of water.

Going about his usual morning routine, quite slowly, Percy attempted to distract himself. He succeeded for a little while. When he was finally ready, Percy stopped. All of the memories, the pain, the torture, flew at him, full force. He sunk to the floor, tears beginning to stream down his face.

The door burst open and Annabeth ran inside. She was a mess and she was crying as she embraced him. They sat there in silence, crying and hugging for another twenty minutes. Then, simultaneously, they looked up.

"Nico."

XXX

Will, Rachel, Thalia and Reyna all entered the Lotus Hotel and Casino. Will slipped away easily. With Percy being the focus of the camp for destroying the Minotaur, it was easy to join the girls on their way to check on Nico. Percy had said he shouldn't be alone. If they were getting flashbacks, then Nico should be too. They were the last to survive, after all.

They bypassed security and met at Nico's room. They pushed the door open and a young boy with black hair and dark rings around his eyes sat on his bed, hunched over and trying not to cry. They all froze.

The first to move was Reyna, followed by Thalia and then Rachel. Will didn't budge. To see him in so much pain... it broke him. It broke his heart and his very spirit. But Will wouldn't abandon his friend.

He stumbled forwards, laying w hand on Nico's shoulder. He crouched in front of him. Will wrapped his hand around the older boy's wrist. "You haven't been eating," he whispered. Nico squirmed slightly.

Will pulled Nico away from the bed. His lack of nutrition gave Will the upper hand. "We're going out."

He met Rachel, Thalia and Reyna's eyes before turning back to Nico. "But Annabeth's plan-"

"Doctor's orders," Will said. Thalia grabbed Nico's other hand, nodding in agreement.

"I happen to know a great pizza place around here!"

XXX

Things progressed as they originally did. Annabeth gave him a tour, he was introduced to the Hermes cabin and he met Clarisse again. She telepathically said that his mother was fine, if not a little (lot) shaken.

The amusing part was when Clarisse's brother, John, decided that he'd have a go at giving him a swirly, Clarisse merely smirked and followed her siblings, Percy and Annabeth inside. Only the three of them were dry as they left the communal bathroom.

'"Pizza is sooo good,"' moaned Nico. Percy snorted, earning a weird look from a daughter of Aphrodite.

'"You're the Italian one. You should know this better than any of us."'

'"I've spent the last forty years in a hotel and casino," Nico said. Percy watched as Annabeth smirked.

'"The first pizza was made in 1889."'

'"Well... I plead the fifth!"'

'"Do you even know what that means?"'

'"No... but that is besides the point,"' said Nico.

Percy smiled. At least he was happy. Annabeth shared a similar expression. "You excited for Capture the Flag?"

"What's that?" he asked with a sly grin.

"Only the best game ever made," Annabeth said.

"Isn't that Quidditch?" Clarisse said. "I mean, people get much more injured in that than they do in a game which involves no maiming."

"Is Clarisse corrupting the new guy?" Luke approached them. "I must stop her!"

Percy grinned and said, "sorry, she already accomplished that."

Luke pouted, turning to Annabeth. "You teaching him words makes him sound smarter than he actually is."

"Hey!"

"Like I could ever date an idiot," Annabeth said. "He has his... moments of intelligence."

"Right, 'moments'." Luke used his fingers as air quotes.

"As much as I love mocking Percy, here comes Chiron," said Annabeth. The Centaur approached them.

"How are you settling in, Percy?"

"Alright," he said. "Everybody has been welcoming." Chiron raised an eyebrow.

"I heard about the bathroom incident," he said.

"Yeah," Percy blushed slightly at being called out. "Welcoming."

Chiron could only sigh. "You should be heading to your cabins. Dinner is soon." When nobody made to leave, he could only turn around and leave, with a chuckle they could barely hear.

"Does he hate us or...?"

"It's just you," said Clarisse. "Nobody likes you."

"I'd argue but our relatives have confirmed that."

"Annabeth! Again, with the words!"

"I'm not totally illiterate!"

'"Thalia! Save me, Percy is using big words!"'

'"Zeus! That is scary!"'

Annabeth could only grin at their antics. At times like these, she forgot the memories, the past. At times like these, she was happy.

(A/N What do you think? This is pretty filler, but at least I've added in memories. I needed to emphasize that Ouranous is pretty powerful. I think I'll have the Son of Poseidon revelation next chapter and start of quest straight after that. Should I get a Beta Reader? I don't really like editing, and I'm not sure. You know that kind of person who doesn't want to impose or be awkward and then ends up being awkward? Yeah, that's me. So I don't know if I should get a Beta. Also, did anyone see Endgame? I never cry at movies, but this was the only thing to accomplish that. But it was soooo goooood!)


	5. Facades

XXX

Luke glanced at his allies. Ares, Athena and Hermes against Apollo, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Dionysus and Demeter. This game would be easy and quick. They had two of the three biggest cabins, many people with prior battle experience, Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. The latter two were the most valuable in his opinion. The Aphrodite cabin would probably sit this out, but Silena was definitely going to be out there.

He listened to the plan Annabeth mapped out. He couldn't help smirking. She purposefully had himself be the main runner to get the flag. By that, he meant distraction. The plan with the hellhound was already in motion, but it'd happen during the game instead. To benefit them by being a distraction as well as revealing Percy's true parentage. When Luke was running with the flag, they'd allow the hellhound in, and they'd win. A simple enough plan, really.

When the familiar signal was given, he climbed a tree, beginning to jump from tree to tree. He saw Percy by the border and he knew Annabeth was near since she said she'd be under her cap. He saw Will near the flag. It was fortunate he was the flag's guard and that he knew of the plan. There wouldn't be as big of a fight.

Will caught his eye and winked. He turned around, beginning to observe the surrounding areas. If anyone where to see him, they'd think he was on guard. Nobody would suspect him of working with the enemy. 

Luke dropped down behind them, grabbing the flag and hoisting it up. Will and the other guard made to attack him, but he spun out of the way. He climbed another tree, watching from the corner of his eyes as Clarisse let in the hellhound. If Kronos ever discovered that she did it, Clarisse had probably said this jokingly and it'd overpowered her before sprinting towards Percy.

There was a collective gasp as it bounded towards Percy, and Luke found himself forgotten. Percy held up Riptide while Luke landed on their side. The flag changed colours, signifying that they'd captured the flag, but nobody paid attention as Percy was pushed into the creek. Chiron raised his bow to fire an arrow. 

Luke smirked as Percy swung his sword, effortlessly dissolving the supposed threat. "Chiron!" Annabeth exclaimed. "Look! His arm!" Where a minor scratch had once been was now smooth skin. Chiron's eyes widened.

Whoever said Poseidon didn't have a flare for the dramatic? The trident appeared over his head. ("That's quite over the top, now that I think about it,") said Will.

("Percy been claimed?") asked Thalia. 

("Yeah,") said Luke. ("I think he's given Chiron a mini heart attack.")

("More like major.")

Percy caught his eye. He nodded. This was the beginning. 

XXX

He got his quest quickly enough. A couple of tense weeks passed with him primarily hanging with Annabeth, Luke, Will and Luke. He interacted with some Hermes kids, as well as Silena. He'd forgotten her friendship with the winged horses.

He'd chosen Clarisse and Annabeth as his companions. They couldn't take Grover in case they revealed anything and Clarisse would help when they came across Ares. That was the only necessary thing to do on their quest. Get the bag, enter the Underworld, leave the Underworld, give Zeus the master bolt and return Hades' helm of darkness. 

Luke would make everything seem normal and Will was just unimportant enough for it to go unnoticed if he ever went missing. He would travel between their camps to present plans to Reyna, as well as to talk with Nico, Thalia and Rachel.

"You ready?" Annabeth asked, entering his cabin. 

"Yeah," he said, slinging his bag onto his back. "Clarisse with Argus?" Annabeth nodded.

They arrived at the bus. "Ready to go?" asked Chiron. 

"Yeah," before anything else was said, Luke ran up to them.

"Thought these could help you," he offered them a rectangular shaped box. Percy peeked inside and scoffed internally. 

("Luke!") 

He offered his friend a smile. "Thanks, Luke! These are going to help us so much!"

("Facades, Percy. Facades.")

"You know how to work them?"

("I don't want your Tartar- Tartarus loving shoes!")

"Maia, right? Oh, aren't these amazing, Annabeth?"

("Sure they are. Especially when we're nearly dragged to our doom by them,") Annabeth sarcastically put in. "Yeah, they're cool. But if we don't leave soon we're going to have to deal with a war never seen before." She just managed to keep the sarcasm away.

("Like that's not a necessity,") Percy said, snorting quietly. Annabeth rolled her eyes, giving Luke and Chiron a hug.

("Again, with the smart words!") Thalia exclaimed. Clarisse rolled her eyes. 

("Thalia, if you don't shut up I'm going to pay for the dictionary Princess is getting you for Christmas!")

("Annabeth!") Thalia had mock horror, or maybe real horror, in her voice.

"I'll miss you two," said Annabeth, her eyes wide and scares yet holding a spark of excitement. Percy admired how good an actress she was. She seemed to be excited with the prospect of her first quest, when in reality she'd been on too many to count.

"We'll miss you too, Annie," said Luke. Annabeth frowned at her nickname.

"Hurry up you pansycake!" Clarisse exclaimed. Percy muffled his laugh with his hand. 

"I'm so insulted!" Annabeth said with a mocking pitch in her voice. She jumped onto the van with them.

("And then there were three,") he sighed.

("Nine, if we're counting everyone else who can hear you,") Nico said.

("Quick question,") Will said. ("Why didn't the prophecy change? 'You will be betrayed by one who calls you friend' as well as 'And you will fail to save what matters most in the end'. Luke isn't technically betraying you and your mom hasn't been kidnapped.") Percy bit his lip. He'd never considered that.

("A favour,") said Rachel. ("The Fates are doing us a favour.") Rachel was using her 'I just know so don't ask' voice.

("They certainly owe us a few,") said Annabeth.

("More than a few,") Clarisse said.

("How are things going with the company, Rachel?") Percy asked. ("Maybe we can stop by during the quest.")

("Don't! I've nearly perfected the place and I don't need you guys mucking it up!")

("Come on, we're not that bad!")

("You're right! You're worse,") she said.

("Rachel! You're not any better!") Percy snorted. He turned to Annabeth. ("What's the plan?")

("We'll go say hi to Rachel,") Annabeth smirked. ("Then we'll kill time with Medusa and the Arch.")

("Hopefully we'll get to kill some other monsters,") Clarisse said. She obviously wanted to see as much carnage -monster, not demigod- as possible.

("We'll meet Ares, get the backpack, skip the Lotus Hotel and Casino and then visit the Underworld.")

("When can I leave, though?") Nico asked.

("Next Sumner,") Annabeth said. ("We're bringing Thalia there and then during the Winter you'll come. You'll leave the Casino beforehand so the quest to get Bianca back will be easier.")

("Have you thought about the Manticore?") asked Luke, a slightly guilty tone in his voice.

("Yes,") Percy saw her hesitate. ("I have.") Percy exchanged a look with Clarisse. Whatever Annabeth was planning, he wouldn't like it.

XXX

Rachel nodded in satisfaction. She and Thalia may have been working on their own, but she had a lot of time on hand and Nico and Will sometimes visited. Of course, they couldn't hang around for long. Nico because he had to remain ten for a while and Will because his disappearance would be noticed. Reyna and Luke's situations were similar, but even they made time to stop by.

So far, they'd finished the office part, training/gym/sports area, were buying a nearby building for a college, and maybe a private school for all ages and Thalia was loading bags of soil onto a trailer. They were either going to build a greenhouse or buy a building and convert it into one.

"Do you think we could somehow extend the protection to the other buildings?"

"We'll have to if we want this to work. We could purchase a favour from Hecate or wait for Hazel to arrive."

"Too far away. We'll have to solicit a favour from Hecate. Can you teach me to control the mist? It might be a start if a more than one of us can control it."

"Sure, I think we can. In the meantime, let's-"

Before she could finish her sentence, three distant figures appeared. Rachel groaned. All of their hard worm would be ruined!

"Even I can tell you're being dramatic, Rachel," Thalia laughed.

"Being dramatic is fun, though."

"Hey, guys!" Annabeth said, joining Percy and Clarisse. She glanced at the warehouse. "Last time I saw this place, it was a block of cement. What happened?"

Rachel grinned. "Apart from your architectural assistance?"

"Yes," said Annabeth.

"Definitely the paint," said Percy, admiring the building. "When I was leaving, they began to paint the outside. A lot of the inside was finished, so this was next."

"Is there an arena?" Clarisse, unsurprisingly, asked.

"Yeah," said Thalia. "When you guys finish your quest, I'll beat the crap out of you. Don't worry." Clarisse cracked her knuckles.

"You asking for trouble, girly?"

"You realise that you're a girl, Clarisse?" Thalia shot back. 

"Oh, really?" Clarisse glanced down exaggeratedly. "I never noticed."

Rachel shook her head, turning to the other two. "It's strange to see you guys again." She pulled them into a hug.

"Yeah. The voices in our heads aren't the same," said Annabeth. Rachel grinned. "Also," she slung her bag off of her shoulder. "Some blueprints." Rachel examined them. 

"I was going to ask for some greenhouse blueprints, but it seems you've already thought of that. Also I love that statue already." She pointed to the one depicting a frozen fountain. But there were strange patterns which vaguely resembled... "Time?"

Percy cracked a grin. "My idea. They won't get it, so it'll be hilarious."

"I'm surprised you actually did it, Annabeth," said Rachel. Annabeth bit her lip.

"It has meaning. Time. Time travel. Kronos. Another chance."

"The philosophical route," Rachel nodded, smiling. She glanced at her watch. "You guys should go. Don't want anyone getting curious about your lack of adventure."

"It was great to see you, Red," Percy said, hugging her. Rachel smiled. 

"It was great to see you guys too. Make sure to stop by for a visit, soon."

"I thought I ruined everything I touched?" Percy said.

Rachel pushed his shoulder. "Do shut up!" Percy chuckled. She turned to Annabeth. "Watch out for Kelp Head." Annabeth pulled her in for a hug. 

"Only if you'll make sure Thalia doesn't destroy the world."

"A given."

Rachel waved goodbye to her friends as they set off on their journeys. "They'll be okay," Thalia said.

"Of course they will," she laughed. "I'm more worried for the monster's wellbeing than theirs!"

XXX

Clarisse gazed up at Auntie Em's Garden Gnome Emporium. She glanced at Percy and Annabeth. "Who calls dibs?"

"I do," Annabeth said before anyone could react. Percy pouted. "Don't give me that look, Seaweed Brain. You've already killed her. Stay here with Clarisse. You'll only try to kill her when you see an opening." She walked inside quickly, and Clarisse stifled a laugh at a childish voice calling for help. 

"Annie is feeling particularly sadistic today," she said. "My best on ten minutes."

Percy snorted, sitting. "Ten drachma she'll take twenty?"

"You're on," she said, her larger hand encasing Percy's as they shook on it. She looked around, looking at a statue which detailed a pirate. That reminded her... "Hey, Percy. Have you noticed how different Nakamura has been acting this time around?"

"Uh, yeah. Luke mentioned that you've been training him?"

"I have been," she said. "I never really talked to him in our last life. Now that I'm really getting to know him... I understand. I never did, before. Sure, dad had been distant but he visited enough -which was about twice a year, in camp- for us to never notice. I just thought they were being dramatic. But... Ethan's never even talked to his mother before. He hasn't been claimed yet. He knows who she is, but she just doesn't... care."

"I guess that's what happens when you're an immortal being," Percy said, sighing. "You get selfish and so caught up in your own life that you don't even bother to claim your own children. I know for a fact that there's one child of Apollo in the Hermes cabin. Two of Athena's. Even Hermes hasn't claimed all of his children."

"Nobody is allowed to feel that way after we deal with all of these evil immortal beings," she said. 

"Agreed," Percy said. "Also, Ethan. He seems comfortable around you, but I couldn't help but notice these curious glances he'd send you, Luke, Annabeth and Will." She pursed her lips. Oh, she knew he was suspicious of them. But she didn't know why. "Think he has any idea about us..." he searched for a word. "Travellers?"

"I..." she frowned. "Don't know."

"It's the tree," they looked up as Annabeth arrived, holding a see through plastic bag, with an ugly pink and yellow scarf wrapped around a certain object. "He's mentioned it to all of us at least three times. If I had to guess, he was either there or he dreamed about it."

"Makes sense," Clarisse said. She glanced at her watch and laughed. "She's been gone for fifteen. Neither of us win." Percy chuckled, shaking her hand.

"You two are imbeciles," smiled Annabeth. She turned around. "Come on. Let's dispose of this snake." 

Clarisse couldn't help a shiver as she entered Auntie Em's Garden Gnome Emporium. If the statues were bad outside, it was downright terrifying inside. "Very quaint," she said, frowning as the eyes seemed to follow their every move.

Percy rummaged through the cash register while Annabeth picked up a mirror. "Should we say something?" Percy asked. "How about 'This is what happens when you try turning Annabeth into stone'?" Clarisse snorted as the mirror was placed in front of Medusa's severed head.

"Will it even work?"

"We're about to see." Everyone shut their eyes as they pulled the scarf away. They stayed like that momentarily before pushing the mirror away and opening them, only to see a non-stoned Medusa head. "Told you it was a stupid idea," Annabeth finally said, picking up a lighter.

"We're not sending it to the gods?" Percy pouted.

"I'd rather their feelings for you were not 'tolerable, heavily leaning towards hate'."

"Fine," with that, the lighter dropped onto Medusa's severed, snake ridden head.

Clarisse watched as the head was endowed with flames. She had never met Medusa, so she hadn't held any personal grudges, but she knew Percy and Annabeth either held a grudge against the monsters who had tried to kill them or liked to laugh at the monster. It really depended on their power and how close they'd been to death.

"So... MacDonald's?" she asked. 

"Sure," Percy said. They had plenty of time to spare, after all. 

XXX

Poseidon glowered at her father. "Neither I nor my son has stolen your bolt, Zeus!"

"Yes, you have!" Zeus persisted. Athena only groaned. She may have despised her uncle, but it was obvious that Perseus Jackson didn't steal the bolt, no matter how suspicious a character he was.

Athena had done some digging, and it turns out that the boy had been reported as missing by the boy's own mother when he was four. And then he shows up out of the blue, claiming he'd just gotten lost.

She'd tried to find out where he had been, but all she found was some occasional (and by occasional she meant maybe once, twice, perhaps three times a year) facial recognition match. She usually found him with an unfamiliar redhead girl and once another girl. Athena would've just passed it off as them being some runaways Percy had met if it weren't for the girl's eyes. 

She did some more digging and found the redhead was known as Rachel Elizabeth Dare and that the girl with the iconic blue eyes of her father was Thalia Grace. She also had a brother who was missing, but it wasn't hard to figure out that he was in the a Roman Camp. Thalia looked too young to be thirteen, so Athena quickly deducted she'd been in the Lotus Hotel and Casino. As the goddess of Wisdom, she gained access to security footage and indeed found Thalia there for a year. She'd found her hanging with a raven haired boy who shared suspicious features in common with Hades. He also had a twin sister. 

So it seemed Hades had saved his children from certain demise at the hands of her father.

And then, after looking into Thalia some more, she found footage of her hanging with Luke Castellan, and occasionally her own daughter. But the story Chiron had relayed detailed that Annabeth and Luke had found each other when she was seven, and then they found Will Solace and Clarisse la Rue. Which didn't add up, because the first evidence she found of them together was just as they were arriving at Camp Half Blood. For the first time. 

Ethan Nakamura had told her of his dreams after she'd been watching after her children and he was watching the quartet a little too closely. She questioned the boy and learned that they had planted the mysterious tree at the camp boarders.

At the Winter Solstice, they had been acting strangely. Maybe they did know what happened with the bolt? Annabeth had even seemed terrified. Could she have...? No, it was illogical. What motive could she have had? In fact, she seemed terrified for something, not of.

Now she was racking her exceptionally large brain for ideas. They obviously weren't normal children, but it didn't add up for them to be monsters or using the mist to disguise their real age. Someone would have noticed.

Athena could only sit on her throne, tuning out her relatives. What was truly going on? What were the true motives of these supposed children? 

All Athena knew was that she and her daughter would be having words.

(A/N Okay, done! For a while there, I was dealing with minor writer's block, but no more! What do you think about the company they're making? How they dealt with Medusa? And Athena? I've noticed a lot of fics dumb her down, but Athena is the literal goddess of Wisdome!)


	6. And... Action!

XXX

("Can we kill her this time?") Percy asked, glancing at the familiar old lady out of the corner of his eyes.

("Clarisse and I will do it. You are going to meet with the nymph and get the summons.") Percy sighed, as Echidna talked with the Chimera. This time, that little boy and his mother got into the elevator, only the father remaining behind with them. Protecting him would be far easier than all three of the family.

When she finally confronted them, Annabeth barely allowed him to hesitate before pushing him off of the arch. ("Come on, Wise Girl!")

("Sorry, Seaweed Brain!") she called as she began to battle Echidna. 

The colourless woman was there again. "Who are you?" asked Percy.

"A messenger," she said. "Your father has summoned you to the beach in Santa Monica."

"What?" Percy asked, playing confused. 

"It is your father's will," she said, beginning to fade. "I cannot stay here any longer. The water is too foul to hold me-" and she disappeared.

This time, nobody had noticed somebody falling off of the arch. Then again, it hadn't exploded, either. ("Percy!") Clarisse called. ("Get up here! We need some help!") Percy hopped into an elevator. Fortunately, this seemed to be the last ride up as it were late in the evening and nobody was travelling up the arch, either.

He came up to find Clarisse battling the Chimera and Annabeth holding off Echidna. He quickly ran to Clarisse, uncapping Riptide. The monster hadn't noticed him until it was too late so when she exploded into golden dust, Echidna could only scream in horror, giving Annabeth the benefit of a surprise attack. The woman exploded into the familiar substance. 

"That was..." Clarisse panted as she searched for the right word. "Hard. Really hard. I thought you were exaggerating."

"I wish," Annabeth said, sliding onto the floor. "Got the summons?"

"Yeah, I did," he said, taking in as much air as possible. "Ready to see your dad?" he asked Clarisse. 

"Sure," she said. "Sure I am."

XXX

They sat at the table, all tentatively awaiting the arrival of the War god. ("How long?") Percy asked her.

She glanced at the clock on the wall. ("About...") the doors burst open as your typical biker guy from a gang, leather jacket and all, strolled inside as if he owned the place. ("Now.")

As expected, Ares sat at their table. Annabeth made a show of examining her nails, Clarisse looked mildly intrigued and Percy was bored. "Lord Ares," she greeted coolly. "What has warranted your pleasant visit?"

He smirked. "Straight down to business, eh?" He turned to Percy. "So, this the boy causing such a stir upstairs? Thought he'd be taller." Annabeth hid a grin behind her hand. Percy had always been sensitive about his preteen height, despite the fact that he'd reach at least six foot by the time they were eighteen.

Outwardly, Percy offered an unimpressive lift of his eyebrow. Inwardly, Percy seethed, ("Come on! I'm twelve!")

("Picking on Percy is so much fun,") Clarisse commented, before turning to her father. "Is anything the matter, father?"

"I have a quest for you punks," he said. She noticed a waitress watching them worriedly. The one from the original timeline. Seems things didn't change much. She sent the girl a reassuring smile, before turning back to Ares.

"What's the background story?"

"I was on a date with my girlfriend," he said. "She left her scarf back there and I my shield."

"Why can't you do it yourself?" said Clarisse, mostly just to continue the conversation. "We're kind of busy at the moment." Annabeth didn't know how much Clarisse respected her father anymore. With Ares it seemed to be disappointment after disappointment, although, Annabeth was sure that he simply didn't know how to parent.

"Because I don't have time to deal with this," said Ares.

Percy subtly rolled his eyes. ("That, or you're afraid to be humiliated by Hephaestus again.") Percy leaned forwards. "What do we get?"

Ares looked exasperated. "Apart from the honour of a quest issued by the God of War?"

"Well, if it helps, I have a quest to stop a war," Percy replied. "Now, what are we going to get out of this?"

"Free transportation and supplies," said Ares.

("And a free Lightning Bolt,") added Annabeth sarcastically, watching Ares carefully.

"Fine," said Annabeth. "Where do we go?"

Ares grinned maliciously and soon they were staring up at the familiar water park.

("So,") Clarisse said as they approached the area. ("Why don't you and Percy cause a scene again?")

Percy raised an eyebrow. ("A scene? What'd we do here?")

("The whole swan boat spider thing was on Hephaestus TV, remember? Apparently Athena got pissed at Poseidon.")

Annabeth grinned. ("How about I faint when the spiders come?")

("And Percy just has to carry you,") Clarisse said conspicuously.

("Wait,") said Luke. Annabeth grinned. This would be good. 

And, indeed, it was. 

Their plan to mess with the gods ready, Percy and Annabeth made their way down the steep slope while Clarisse was manning the controls.

"Remember this," Percy whispered to Annabeth, pointing from the boat to the closed ride entrance. She grinned. 

"How could I forget?" she said. Annabeth took out her knife and picked up the scarf using the tip. "Are you ready?" she asked.

Percy grinned. "To mess with some gods? Without a doubt."

XXX

When the spiders appeared, Annabeth didn't have to fake being terrified. They were spiders, even if they were robots, and after her experiences with Arachne... well, let it be said that the scream she echoed would burst and dog's eardrums.

"Annabeth?" Percy asked with wide eyes. "What's wrong?"

"S-sp-spiders!" Her knees began to shake as the scene began. "Percy!" She grabbed onto him, quivering with fear. "Get rid of them! P-please!" She already knew her mother would be annoyed. Her eyes lulled back in her head as she pretended to faint. Percy caught her, of course, and she could hear Clarisse in the background.

("Great performance, Annabeth,") said Thalia.

("Aphrodite cabin is going wild,") said Will. ("Oh, they're creating the ship name! How long till Percabeth exists?")

("Piss off, I'm kinda busy with spiders. Should I carry Annabeth to the boat?") Percy said, uncapping Riptide.

("Obviously,") said Luke. Percy placed her into the familiar boat. He took off his jacket, placing it around her. While Annabeth hated playing the damsel in distress, she had to admit that the inevitable reaction from Poseidon and Athena would be hilarious«.("Percy, summon water... now!")

Her eyes opened slightly as she saw water appear. Bingo. Annabeth supposedly regained consciousness as she pushed herself up. There, Percy was controlling the water but a spider had managed to get into the boat. She grabbed her dagger, firing it at the robot. It sparked as her knife laid wedged between it. Annabeth was curious to how it worked, so she quickly slipped it into her beg, ignoring the legs. They're just wires. Not spiders.

"Annabeth!" Percy exclaimed as the water suddenly pushed them into the Tunnel of Love. She wrapped her arms around Percy. When the gate came into view, Percy went white dramatically. Dam, they were good actors. "We'll have to jump!"

"No!" she shouted. "It's not safe."

"Do you have any better ideas?!"

She looked around them frantically. Oh, the gods were definitely eating this up. "The water! You're the Son of Poseidon! Do something! Make it stop!"

"Ah-" Percy reached a hand towards the crazed water waves, seemingly concentrating when in fact Annabeth knew he was really concentrating on the performance. 

But instead of the water stopping, a wave reached out and grabbed them, as planned. They watched as the boat crashed against the gate, the debris floating throughout the water.

Percy had the wave place them onto the ground outside the ride, gently.

Both stood there, seemingly in shock.

("I love the Percabeth Show!") Rachel exclaimed, faking Aphrodite-ness. ("I mean, it's just the best! Definitely the best love story since Helen and what's-his-face!")

Annabeth surged forwards, gathering Percy in her arms. She burrowed her face into his shoulder. She shuddered. It wasn't that Annabeth disliked having an excuse to touch Percy, she loved that, but she hated acting as a damsel. She blamed this all on Luke, Thalia and Rachel. The three had banded together and decided to mess with as many people as possible without compromising themselves, even if they couldn't see their reactions. And they'd dragged Nico into their plans, too (and where Nico went, Will was bound to follow). Lovely. She was saddled with a bunch of idiots. 

("Now, pull apart.") Slowly, Annabeth let go of Percy. They looked at each other shyly before turning away. She caught sight of Clarisse running towards them.

"Clarisse, watch out!" Clarisse tripped as she sprinted towards them, but Annabeth managed to catch her in time.

The reason behind that little scene was to distract those watching as Percy pulled out Riptide. 

("End it... now.")

"Hey!" he shouted, looking straight into the middle camera, which was the largest. "Are you finished enjoying the suffering of demigods, yet?" He uncapped Riptide. "Shows over!" And threw it straight at the middle camera so that it changed form midair and stabbed the camera just before they turned off.

("And cut,") Luke whispered. ("That was great!")

("So, we've found Luke a career in directing, anyways,") said Annabeth. ("Something productive has happened.")

("What do you mean? Athena and Poseidon are pissed right now. Just look at the ocean. I'm pretty sure dad is annoyed because he's himself and all of the others feel like crap because of Percy's last comment on suffering,") said Thalia.

("I just wish I could see their reactions...") said Rachel.

XXX

When Aphrodite had strolled in, Poseidon had noticed how Hephaestus had tenses. Obviously, the next live show on Hephaestus TV they were about to watch included one of the segments Hephaestus tried to embarrass her and Ares. Poseidon just wondered why Hera forced them all to be present. There wasn't even a meeting. Then again, she'd done this a lot lately. He thought it was because Hera wanted to trick a confession out of him. As if he'd ever steal the stupid lightning bolt.

When his son appeared on the wide cinematic screen, his eyes widened as he snarled. "Hephaestus! What have you done?!"

"Don't look at me!" defended the god of Forges. "This was meant for her and Ares!"

Athena glared fiercely at Hephaestus. "So why are they there, then?"

"Where's Ares?" asked Hera, ignoring the scene.

"I think that answers our questions," said Athena. "I swear Ares. You're de-" Athena gasped, watching the scene. Poseidon's head swivelled up. 

Spiders.

That explained it. Mechanical spiders crawled towards them. Percy was looking around frantically as Athena's daughter seemed to be panicking. 

"They deserve this," Zeus harrumphed. "Stealing my Master Bolt..."

"HEPHAESTUS!" Athena yelled. "Disable it! NOW!" Poseidon cringed.

"I can't," said Hephaestus. "It's too late."

Poseidon watched as Athena's daughter (was it Annabel or something?) fainted. Before she hit the ground, Percy managed to catch her. 

Now, while Poseidon was suspicious about his son disappearing for a couple years (he had checked in, after all), he still loved his son, despite the suspicions. So when Athena turned to him, "Poseidon! Get your filthy spawn away from my daughter!", he glared fiercely at her, the ground shaking slightly.

"Last I checked, he's trying to save your child, Athena!"

"I don't know where's he's been!" Poseidon merely stared at Athena. She knew, obviously. He wouldn't put it past Athena to do a couple background checks. And by a couple he meant very, very thorough checks.

"Can we get back to the show? This is the best love story since Helen and Paris!"

"APHRODITE!" he and Athena yelled in unison. 

"Poseidon, Athena," Hestia said, barely looking up from the Hearth. "Calm down. We'll get nowhere by overreacting. Now, let's get back to this."

They turned to the scene where Percy had somehow summoned water. That was great control over his powers for only knowing for a little while. Suspicious control. Maybe he'd have to ask Athena for those background checks.

The swan boat they sat in was pushed into the Tunnel of Love. "I don't know who I'll kill first. Ares or Hephaestus," said Athena.

"I'll take one, you can have the other," he offered.

On the screen, the camera's zoomed into the Tunnel where they saw the boat fast approaching a gate.

"They'll never make it," muttered Apollo.

"They should eat more cereal. That'll help them."

"Get out of there," urged Hephaestus.

Poseidon was preparing to flash out and save them, yet Zeus seemed to know what he intended. "You know the law, brother. No interference."

"Like you wouldn't save your children in that situation!"

Zeus didn't reply as they turned back to the screen. 

"We have to jump!" shouted Percy.

"We won't make it!" said Athena's girl. Was it Anna? Betty? "The water! You're the son of Poseidon! Do something!"

They watched, holding their breaths as a tidal wave crashed beside them, somehow picking the two up. "Poseidon-" Zeus started threateningly.

"It's not me," he said. It was Percy. Immense control. 

From the corner of his eye he saw Hermes hand Apollo a couple drachmas. They were betting on his son's survival...

When the worrisome parts were over and they were safely on the ground, the girl (Annabeth was her name!) turned and shouted, "Clarisse, watch out!" She caught the daughter of Ares who'd been running too fast.

"Hey!" Percy said. The cameras swivelled to him. "Are you finished enjoying demigod's suffering?!" At this the gods tensed. 

"Is that what they think?" asked Hermes with a frown. "That we enjoy it?"

"Why don't we change the Ancient Laws?" asked Apollo.

"Because they're Ancient Laws," replied Artemis, rolling her eyes.

"But we're ancient. And dad is the king of the gods. I mean, unless the Fates or Cha- that guy- tried to stop him, nothing would go wrong."

"We'll consider it," said Hera, frowning at their infidelity creating demigods. It wasn't like some of them were unmarried or anything. 

Poseidon turned back to the screen as Percy yelled, "shows over!"

They watched as a sword sailed towards the camera.

There was silence as the screen shut off.

"That was awesome," Apollo broke the silence. 

"Shut up, brother!"

"Athena," Poseidon said. "May I speak with you in private?"

"Yes," said Athena. The flashed away in unison, not bothering to inform Zeus of this. "What is it?"

"I know that you've done a background check on my boy. I want to see it."

The goddess of Wisdom, his supposed nemesis, stared him down. "Fine. But to really understand, you will have to read the backgrounds of multiple demigods, as well. It seems that they all are connected, somehow."

"Alright," he said as Athena conjured the stack of files. And yes, it was a big stack.

(A/N I've been a bit distracted lately so I haven't been able to update, but look at that! It seems Poseidon and Athena are very, very suspicious. What do you think of everything that's happened? Leave a review telling me and if there's anything that you'd like to see!)


	7. A Father's... Is It Love?

XXX

Things progressed about the same from there. Ares gave them the bag and the "generous" ride to Los Vegas, set free the animals and then Annabeth directed them to the Lotus Hotel and Casino.

Clarisse frowned. "I thought that we were skipping this and going straight to the Underworld."

Annabeth merely smirked. "I'm not dealing with Charon again." Percy and Clarisse waited outside unsurely. Well, Percy did because f his history with the hotel. Clarisse because she thought Annabeth was crazy. 

She opened the door, walking inside, past the lobby and straight into the housing area. She raced past the doors, counting as she went. "Sixty two... sixty three... ah, sixty four!"

She knocked on the door. It banged open. She raised an eyebrow as an annoyed Nico appeared at the door. "For the last time; I don't want room service! Leave me- oh! Annabeth!" 

"Hey, Nico! Do you feel up for a trip to the Underworld?"

He stared at her incredulously. "I... why?"

"Charon. D.O.A Studios was too much hassle," she said as they started to walk.

"Alright..." Nico frowned. "Actually, this is good. I wanted to talk to you about something. Alone."

"About what?" He nodded to a girl playing goat simulator. Maybe. She wasn't sure what exactly that game was.

"Her. I want her to leave with me. I want to save her. And tell her. Everything." 

Now, Annabeth never properly met Bianca, but she did recognise her from the hazy description her memory provided and an old photograph she'd gotten a glimpse of while Nico was staring at it.

Annabeth bit her lip thoughtfully. She knew that Bianca would join the Hunters if she didn't know the truth. She wouldn't believe any demands from them or if they say "no, don't! You'll die" she'd question their sanity.

"Please, Annabeth! She'd swear it on the River Styx! I promise, she wouldn't tell! Please! I want to save her!"

"Why didn't you go to Percy?" she asked. While she knew a lot of people looked to her as the leader of their quest as she came up with all of the plans and stuff, Percy had equal, if not more, authority with their quest.

"Because he'd agree without a second thought..." Annabeth frowned. But then wouldn't he get what he wanted? 

"What?"

"I'm not an idiot. We need to be careful about our secrets. There has to be some kind of rule about who we tell. Obviously I want to tell Bianca and Hazel, and you and Percy might tell the other Seven or Grover while Clarisse would probably tell Chris and Silena. We all want to tell somebody. But we can't tell just anybody. As much as I want to..."

Annabeth bit her lip. "How about this? When we beat... You-Know-Who, we'll tell everyone. If there's more than a fifty percent chance that they'll die without us telling them, then yes, we'll tell them. If not, we'll wait."

Nico couldn't help the grin on his face. "Then that means-!"

"Yes, it does. When you're leaving, you'll be Shadow Travelling out with her. I'll explain things to everyone later."

They soon came to the door where Percy and Clarisse were poking each other. "It's about time."

She pursed her lips. "Don't talk about time here. I always feel like it's going to be 2076 whenever time is brought up here. Or in Vegas at all."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Alright. Let's-"

"Wait!" Annabeth exclaimed. She raced back inside.

"What?" Clarisse frowned. 

A minute later, Annabeth appeared. "Alright. Now I'm ready." She ignored the weird looks she got.

Clarisse rolled her eyes while Nico planted a hand on her and Clarisse's back. Percy took Annabeth's hand. 

"One trip to the Underworld... coming up!"

XXX

Nico stared at the familiar Cerberus. "What's the plan?"

Annabeth was already opening the bag. "You give the Helm to Hades. We'll go to Ares, and then Zeus." He gaped. 

"Then we'd be revealing ourselves-"

"No. Tell him about the plan we went over a while ago." Nico shoved the Helm into a bag he'd brought with him.

"Plan?" Clarisse asked Percy. He shrugged. Annabeth rolled her eyes at them. 

"Say he is allowed to tell Persephone and maybe Demeter or Hestia, but they have to swear on the Styx not to tell anyone, especially any of the Olympians."

Nico snorted, picking up three balls they'd bought specifically for Cerberus. "He'd sooner eat his Helm than willingly talk to Zeus."

"We'll see you soon, Nico," said Percy. "And tell them that Bianca is working with us too so that they don't send anyone for her."

Nico and Annabeth exchanged glances but didn't say anything.

"See you soon, Death Breath," Clarisse said. She threw him a grin. "I'm sure Will would love to see you. Hurry up."

"Piss off," said Nico, glaring at her. And no, his cheeks definitely did not get significantly warmer.

He turned back to Cerberus, who'd been watching them carefully. Nico raised his arms, holding the balls, as well as allowing his aura to grow and relax the three headed dog. The heads dived for the balls, allowing Nico to pass by. 

He took in his surroundings carefully. They were different. The Underworld hadn't been rerouted by Annabeth, yet. Of course, he still remembered the way to Hades clearly.

As Nico walked, he felt an odd chill. Kronos. He was reaching out to him him, the only living Demigod currently in the Underworld. How he felt Nico from Tar- the pit, Nico couldn't tell.

Ignoring the feeling, he approached Hades' home. 

"Who goes there?!" Nico looked up at the overused line. Alecto was glaring down at him.

"I am here to see Hades," he said monotonously. 

The Fury didn't reply, descending towards him. Just fifty feet away from him, she stopped. "Impossible!" Ah, she sensed the Hades in him. "Are you-"

"Nico di Angelo." Alecto backed away slightly.

"How did you get away from the hotel?!"

"I just did," he said plainly, levelling the Fury with a stare he knew would unsettle Alecto. "I'm on a tight schedule. I need to see my father."

"I-I shall escort you, Young Prince."

"I'm sure it shall cut the time in half," he nodded appreciatively. At least he wouldn't be bothered by anyone else, now. 

Honestly, Nico hated acting so entitled. But acting like a dick usually gave people what they wanted faster than being kind. And Alecto... well, he wasn't stupid. She knew that disrespecting a child of the Underworld would only annoy Hades. 

When they got there, Hades was looking bored as he stared coolly at some cowering ghost. He raised an eyebrow at Alecto, having not seen Nico yet. "Alecto, what are you-" then he saw Nico. He barely spared the ghost a glance. "Leave us." It didn't take milliseconds to comply.

Hades stood, the giant room shrinking as he became human sized. "Nico... is that you?"

"Indeed, it is me," he said, averting his eyes slightly. He still remembered Hades' fate. The gods had been in chains, sentenced to eternal torture and watching, over and over again, as memories of their many children's deaths were forced upon them.

Hades took this the wrong way. "Do not fear me, son." He took a slow step forwards to show that he was not an enemy. "Why... how did you get out?" Nico glanced at Alecto. She took the message, but turned to Hades for a formal dismissal. When he only nodded, she disappeared.

"There is a group of demigods, and no, I don't specifically mean the Romans or Greeks." Hades' eyes widened. "This group, there's nine of us. Seven Greeks, one Roman and one... well, she doesn't have godly blood, but she isn't exactly mortal, either."

"What? Why are you... telling me, then? It's seems like a private organisation." Hades was pale. Nico felt bad for the fact that he'd have to lie to his father, but he knew he must.

"It is," he said. "But we've decided that we'll need godly help. You see, your father, and grandmother, at that, will be rising soon. However, we've also discovered that your grandfather-" he pointed up. "That one, will also rise, but has been keeping them under his mind control. They hadn't agreed with his ideals. Yes, he had made your father eat you."

"What?! How do you know?"

"That is classified information," Nico said, staring at him blankly.

Hades blinked, obviously unsettled. "Well, I..." he cleared his throat. "I can't believe it. How would Ou- he be stronger than them?"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Hades stared at him blankly. He suddenly knew how Annabeth felt all of the time. "Well, not only was he one of the strongest and oldest Primordials before being murdered by the Titans and Ga- The Earth, but he was harvesting power for centuries before Lady Hestia was born. When The Earth slumbered, she wasn't strong enough to fight him off."

"And The Pit? He just let her have the Giants?"

"He wanted revenge and he didn't have an actual form. The Pit was also under his control."

Hades frowned. "How do you know that I won't tell anyone else?"

Nico pulled out the Helm of Darkness. "I'm sure that you've heard of the Lightning Bolt quest."

"So Poseidon's son did steal the Bolt and my Helm? How did you retrieve it?"

"Percy didn't steal it. You'll find out who did shortly, I assure you."

Hades frowned. "Are you going to blackmail me, then?"

"I don't think I have a choice," Nico said softly, taking note of Hades' throne which was a lot more interesting. "I need you to swear on the Styx. If you do, we'll let you tell Persephone, Demeter, Hestia and any trusted gods of the Underworld, if they swear before learning the truth and we approve of the gods."

Hades stared at him, his eyes void of emotion, although, Nico thought he detected a hint of sadness. He hated that. "I swear on the River Styx not to reveal anything that I have learned from Nico di Angelo without permission from him or his ...group." Thunder sounded as Nico handed him the Helm.

"I didn't want to do this, but I really had no choice. Things are... complicated, really."

"I can tell," said Hades. Nico felt tears spring in his eyes as he truly paid attention to his father. It was hard on all of them to see everyone who'd died, and even each other, but it was different with his father. He didn't know how, it just was. "How is Bianca?"

"She's good..." Nico smiled slightly. "...She's good."

Nico saw the tears in his father's eyes. He was thinking... about his mom. "I... Nico... I'm so sorry... Maria..."

Before Hades could continue his pitiful attempt at making a coherent sentence, Nico surged forwards, gathering his father into a hug. 

Hades went rigid, at first, before relaxing in his sons arms. 

And Nico was content to know that, now, his father's fate would change.

He wouldn't let anyone hurt Hades, Bianca, Hazel or anyone that he cared about.

They weren't allowed.

XXX

("Why do we have to meet with Dad?") asked Clarisse as they raced to a secluded place where a battle would (hopefully) go unnoticed.

("So we can have an excuse for knowing Ares stole the Bolt,") Annabeth said. ("Nico, by the way, tell Hades that if anyone asks him his side of the story, say we met with him, figured out what really happened, gave him the Helm and left to fight Ares.")

("Alright,") said Nico. ("Are you sure you don't want me to Shadow Travel you to New York after?")

("They're sure,") Will answered before anyone else could. ("No Underworld-y stuff for you.") Clarisse wished he could. Sure, Annabeth probably came up with a plan, but it was just tedious and time consuming.

"Hey," Percy caught her arm. "Are you okay with this? I mean, he is your dad."

Clarisse considered this. He was her dad. But war... even Ares' children got tired after the first one. The next two (the second was more like a total wipe out) were just hard on them. She was sure even Ares got sick of them in their future.

"We need to do this," said Clarisse. "We need to get this over with."

"Right," Percy nodded before he began panting for breath. They were good actors. "It was Ares! Think about it! If what Hades said was true, then Ares stole it... or got somebody else to."

"Stop saying his name!" Annabeth hissed. 

Clarisse shook her head frantically. "No! I mean, he's my dad! Why would he try to start another war..."

"He's the god of war," Percy said.

"Indeed I am!" Clarisse spun around at her father's voice. The last time they saw him, they mostly ignored each other, preoccupied with other things. Now, she didn't think she could do that.

"Father!" She bit out, reaching for her spear. "You- you stole Zeus' Master Bolt and-... and framed Percy and Poseidon!" She purposefully said their names. Hopefully it'd catch their attentions and they'd watch what happens instead of them having to explain things.

Ares only chuckled. "Of course I did! There hasn't been a war in forever! Why wouldn't I jump at the chance to cause another one?"

"You're not alone, are you?" Annabeth asked, drawing her dagger. Anyone present would think they were preparing an attack. "Obviously, you had to have a Demigod help you. But it wasn't any of your children, they'd jump at the chance to show off. And Clarisse was the only one there. And you don't exactly have the brains to be the mastermind behind this!"

Ares went red with rage. "You filthy little-"

"Hey pigs brains!" While she and Annabeth were distracting him, Percy had been summoning water. It was now right behind Ares. "How'd you like a nice, refreshing drink of sea water?"

"What?"

("Poseidon help me!") Percy exclaimed as the water came crashing down on Ares. The distraction enabled Annabeth to fire her dagger at him as Clarisse sprinted forwards, her spear ready. The dagger managed to lodge itself into his hand, but Ares ripped it out. For a second he stared at the golden Ichor trickling out before he turned to the charging Clarisse. She was purposefully running slower than she could. 

Clarisse nearly stopped short when she saw an emotion in his eyes. Pain? Sorrow? Disappointment? She didn't know.

What she did know was that Ares threw something at her, shielding her gaze as she felt the place heat up. 

When she removed the item (which was actually his leather jacket), she saw that he had disappeared. Percy and Annabeth were shielding their eyes and a golden light was dying down. 

"He left," she murmured. "...why?" Annabeth looked as puzzled as she felt. 

Surprisingly, it was Percy who answered. "I mean, aren't you his kid? A lot of parents hate harming their children. And he probably realised that you'd probably get hurt in that case. Of course, there are exceptions..." Clarisse knew who he was talking about. Ouranous, Atlas, who knows how many mortals and Kronos (technically).

"Since when did you know anything about parents?" Annabeth asked, wrapping her arm around him.

"You've met my mom. You've heard about Gabe. I quickly learned the difference between parent and abuser. Even if he wasn't my dad..."

Clarisse sighed. It wasn't uncommon for Demigods to have at least a somewhat abusive Mortal side of the family. There was a reason that Clarisse was a year rounder, after all. But Percy was lucky. Sally Jackson was one of the nicest people in the world.

"Alright!" Annabeth clapped her hands together. "We have to go. Monsters will realise we're here soon if we stay."

"And how are we getting to New York?" asked Percy. "I don't know about you, but I think LA is pretty far away."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "You really think I didn't think about this?" She pulled out a card Clarisse didn't recognise. Percy grinned.

"You didn't."

"I did."

Percy hailed a taxi as Clarisse tried to understand the explanation Annabeth had given. There was no way it contained that much money...

They piled inside the taxi. "Where to?"

"Do you accept Hotel Cards?" Annabeth asked, ignoring the question.

"It depends," he shrugged, taking the card. He swiped it into some scanner things and Clarisse learned something.

It contained that much money. Well, in her defense, it was Nico, Annabeth and Reyna who'd worked with the money for the base and things.

"Er- where would you like to go -er, your highness-?" Clarisse suddenly noticed Annabeth sitting with an air of importance. Oh, she was so playing this up.

"If you will bring us to New York, we'll let you keep the change. All of it." Clarisse could see the man weighing his options. Drive forty hours to New York (not including toilet, food or gas stops and traffic), possibly lose his job yet also become one of the wealthiest people in America, or not take them, keep his lousy paying job and continue whatever sort of life he was living. "Gas and food would be on the card, of course."

Clarisse was unprepared for the man slamming his foot on the gas as he suddenly began to drive. "Deal."

Clarisse glanced at her companions. "Uhhh... road trip?"

(A/N I'm surprised I made a new chapter so quickly. I was just in the mood. What do you think? I unintentionally added some parent/child scenes into this one, and it'll only continue with the next one as they return the Lightning Bolt! Are there any POVs you'd like to see? I've already planned obvious ones such as Thalia and Luke for the Sea of Monsters, but is there anyone else that you'd like to see? Let me know!)


	8. Gods, Demon Cheerleaders Are The Worst

Happy Birthday, Percy!

XXX

Thalia was bored. Like, really, really bored. Rachel was working on some project, everyone else ho she could talk to was distracted with either a quest, their cabins, their camp or their dad. And the construction crew they'd hired had the day off, so Thalia couldn't help build, either. She and Rachel had soon realised they couldn't build, furnish and paint one (maybe two or three if the plans for a school or a college went through) building, either. So they used the Mist so that they were older than they looked and the people didn't ask questions. When they were finished, Thalia would make them forget what they'd built, for safety's sake.

She began to play with her bow and quiver.

It'd been ages since she saw Luke. And she probably wouldn't see him again until next summer, at least. And even then, she'd have to pretend to hate him. At least Annabeth, Percy and Clarisse would be finished their quest, soon. As far as Thalia knew, they'd all be taking the year off from camp. Percy would probably be alternating between staying with them and Sally. Ooh. She didn't remember if blue food was a thing again. She hoped so. Sally made the best cookies. And it was even better blue. Wait, she was starting to sound like-

"YES!"

Thalia definitely didn't fall off of her bed. Definitely not. She raced in to Rachel's room, bow at the ready. Rachel was sitting at a computer, grinning. "Rachel, you nearly gave me a heart attack! What is it?"

"Thalia! You'll never believe it!"

"Is it the secret project you've been working on since... I dunno, forever?"

"I've been backing into my father's company," Rachel said nonchalantly. Thalia didn't expect that. "But there's a reason. I've been trying to find Piper and Leo. No luck with Leo, but read this." She pointed to the computer.

"oItnviatoni ot nasTritn cLMan'se setewn milf erprime ta shi sonmiam, dyaWsen, Unej eintneneht."

"What?" asked Thalia, staring hard at the computer. She gestured to the screen. "Dyslexia, remember?"

"Oh, right." Rachel turned to the screen. "Invitation to Tristan McLean's newest film premiere at his house, Wednesday, June nineteenth."

"That the simplified version?" asked Thalia. Why was this relevant? Sure, he was handsome, but who cared?

"Email summary," Rachel nodded. "Anyways. We'll sneak in."

"Why?" Thalia asked.

"You've got to be joking! Tristan McLean!"

"I hate to break it to you, Rachel, but you're supposed to remain a maiden." Rachel hit her on the back of the head.

"Shut up, idiot! McLean? Who else do we know with that name."

Thalia's eyes widened. "Piper!"

"Yes, you fool! I've been trying to find her and Leo for ages! Whenever I get close to finding Leo, he ends up running away or they haven't updated it properly! And Tristan McLean's house is surprisingly hard to find."

"Well, it's either that or being attacked by swarms of fans," shrugged Thalia. "Why didn't you ask for my help?"

"Well, there's the dyslexia and it's technology. We might be protected here, but still. We should talk to Hephaestus about the flare technology sends up with us."

"I guess," she shrugged. "Would they be staying with us or Camp?"

"Umm..." Rachel bit her lip. ("Hey, Annabeth, we think we've found Piper. When we get her, should we bring her to Camp so she can improve her abilities or should she come stay with us and we can tell her the truth?")

("Bring her to Camp. Tell them that cover up we came up with. Nico and I were talking and we decided only people who'd undoubtedly, or most likely, die if we didn't tell them the truth.")

("Wait...") Percy said. ("Does that mean we'll tell Bianca?")

("After the quest,") said Annabeth. ("Nico would bring her to base and I think you, Nico and Thalia should explain things.") Ah, Bianca would probably want to hear about the Hunters.

("What cover story?") Rachel asked. Thalia's brow creased before she shrugged.

Annabeth let out an annoyed groan. ("Does nobody listen to me?! How many of you actually know the cover up?")

("I do,") said Nico.

("So do I,") said Luke.

("I can't believe you guys don't pay attention!") Reyna exclaimed.

("When did you come up with this?") asked Rachel.

("When Thalia and Percy went for the Fleece,") said Annabeth. ("And I know you had already retrieved it, so don't give me that crap. I'm not even going to ask the rest of you for your excuses.") Thalia cringed at the reminder of the trip back on the boat. She still remembered the taste of that concoction Percy had come up with. She didn't know how he made such a disgusting thing. And he was surprisingly good at Monopoly.

("What's the cover up, then?") Will finally asked.

("We're a secret organisation of Demigods formed after we decided the gods haven't been doing enough to protect us. We have been building safe havens for Demigods, apart from Camp Half Blood and Camp Jupiter and our reasons for knowing about certain information, such as Kronos, Ouranous and Gaia are classified. If somebody insists, we'll tell them we have somebody on the inside, which we do.")

("Cool,") Rachel said. ("It's a bit half assed, but it's believable. But how did we form? I mean, sure, we think the gods aren't doing enough to protect us, but who are the leaders? The masterminds?")

("Annabeth and Percy,") Luke said. Thalia could accept that. ("To be honest, they're probably the most experienced of us all. Besides, Annabeth is already a mastermind, so that's simple. And when you think about it, we do all look up to Percy.")

("Hmm,") said Clarisse. ("I'll agree with everything you just said except for us looking up to Percy. Have you seen him being petty?")

("And have you seen him angry?") Annabeth retorted. Her tone was sort of far away.

("Wait, wait,") Percy interrupted. ("I can level this out. I'm the supplier of blue cookies!")

("Yes!") Thalia exclaimed.

("Oh, thank the gods!") Rachel said.

("...What?") Luke asked.

("Why'd she make them this time?") Annabeth asked.

("I just convinced her a bully once told me that there was no such thing. I said that we got into an argument about it. She was... let's say annoyed and went to the shop for blue food colouring. And then the cookies came into existence! And it's not entirely untrue.")

("You manipulative little shit!") Annabeth laughed, her giggles filling their minds. The laughter was contagious and soon they were all laughing. To be honest, Thalia wasn't entirely sure why. It just felt nice.

XXX

"Ready?" Rachel asked.

Thalia nodded, smoothing down the icy blue jumpsuit. "Yeah. But why couldn't we just sneak in?"

"Because," Rachel rolled her eyes. "You and I are going to walk in. It'll he easier than having the possibility of being caught."

"Still," Thalia sighed as they hopped out of Rachel's violet convertible. Rachel had decided that they should all have a car, in case they were in a tight spot and needed a quick get away. Of course, they weren't going to public places for a few years, but still.

"Hey," Rachel said. "You're lucky that I haven't forced you into a dress." Rachel gestured to the red and gold dress.

"It looks like you just stepped out of Harry Potter," replied Thalia as they approached the house. Neither of them had the chance to become close enough to Piper to find out where she lived, but Annabeth had said she had a house in Oklahoma. They were currently in the Malibu house. More like mansion.

"Good thing it's Summer," Rachel said as they came upon large, open double doors. "She could've been in boarding school."

Two security guards stood at the door. "Invitation?" one asked gruffly. Rachel handed him a blank slip of parchment as Thalia controlled the Mist to have them not see anything amiss about the situation. "Through the doors and to the left is the ball room."

("Alright,") said Thalia. ("Knowing Piper, she's probably in her room. Split up?")

("Yeah. If I had to guess, the rooms would be upstairs. I'll take the right and you left?")

("Call for me if you find her,") Thalia said. ("Here, in case you find her first.") Thalia handed her a dagger. Looking down, Rachel saw an image. Percy, Annabeth and Clarisse were in some sort of box. Clarisse was pale, Percy and Annabeth were staring at something, angrily.

She looked up. ("Katoptris. How did you get it?")

("I asked Will to bring it to me when you found out where Piper was.")

Rachel grinned slightly, before she got into pompous character. The Mist was masking them, but better safe than sorry. "I'm going to the loo, Thalia."

"Don't take too long, Rachel, dear. You'll miss the party!" She kind of wanted to see Thalia as a wife to one of those business men with the never ending dinner parties. It would be brilliant. With a subtle nod, they turned from each other, trekking up separate grand staircases in opposite directions.

Rachel was slightly glad that people seemed to hang out all over the house. If there was a clear sighted mortal around, they wouldn't find it strange that Rachel was wandering the corridors alone.

She began to open doors. Three led to empty bedrooms, two to bathrooms, one to some sort of lounge and another... well, let's just say she saw a sight she couldn't unsee. Interpret that as you will.

Blinking back certain images, Rachel finally opened up to an empty balcony. Well, mostly empty.

There, looming over a familiar girl, was a bloody Empousa. "Please, Scarlett!" Piper exclaimed, her fear obvious. "Just leave me alone!" She probably saw 'Scarlett' as some businesswoman or one of her father's employees.

"Such a pretty little thing you are," grinned the Empousa. Rachel began to run forwards, Katoptris at the ready.

"LEAVE!" Piper screamed. Rachel nearly did as the Empousa began to walk away. Rachel realised why Piper survived this originally. She had Charmspoken and the monster had been forced to leave. Rachel stabbed Scarlett in the back, golden dust exploding onto her red and gold dress. Though, it only looked like glitter.

("Found her,") she told Thalia. ("There's a balcony at the end of the first hallway I went down.")

Piper's eyes widened as she stared at her. "Wh-what did you just do?! She exploded!"

"I'm Rachel Dare," she said, sitting beside the younger girl. "There's not much time, but I have a dew questions and explanations for you. Is that alright?"

Piper hesitantly nodded. "Okay. Have you ever seen something that doesn't look normal? Almost like a monster?"

Piper bit her lip. "Erm, yeah. But Jane says I'm just hallucinating." Piper obviously had yet to go through the really rebellious phase.

"And can you convince people to do almost anything with just your voice?"

"Yeah," Piper's cheeks coloured a bit. "I once stole a BMW. But I asked for it, and he gave me it!"

Rachel smiled. "Have you ever heard of the Greek Gods?"

"Like the guys from Hercules?" Piper asked.

"I meant the mythical ones, but that's a start," Rachel sighed. "So there are twelve main gods. In no particular order, Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Athena, Apollo, Mr. D- sorry, Dionysus, Artemis, Demeter, Hermes, Ares, Hephaestus and Aphrodite."

Piper raised an eyebrow. "Why are you telling me this?"

"What would you do if I said that they were real? And monsters? And that you're a demigod?"

"...call an asylum?" Piper looked at her as if she were crazy. Rachel opened her mouth to continue when the doors burst open to reveal Thalia, looking rather disheveled. Golden dust decorated her clothes. Piper blanched as she saw Thalia's bow and quiver.

"Rachel! A Hellhound attacked me. I probably shouldn't be surprised. A daughter of Zeus in a single place for a while is dangerous. Have- oh!" She noticed Piper. ("I completely forgot about her!")

Rachel sighed, turning to Piper. She could possibly salvage this. "If you hadn't guessed, Piper, this is a daughter of Zeus. I'm not lying. Her name is Thalia. "

Piper bit her lip, considering things. "Are you telling the truth?" She felt the Charmspeak wash over her.

"Yes," Rachel answered.

"And why are you telling me this?"

"Because you're a demigod." Hadn't she said that already?

"Who's?"

This time, Rachel tried to resist but Piper was too strong for her at the moment. She was little more than a mortal, no where near powerful enough to fight of Charmspeak. "Aphrodite, the goddess of Love and Beauty."

Piper blinked stupidly. For a few moments she sat rigidly before finally, "I don't believe you."

"Well," Thalia said. "You might not believe us but it's not safe for you to stay here at the moment. Rachel and I are apart of a secret organisation of demigods and we want to bring you to Camp Half Blood, a place that doesn't know about us. It's the safest place for people like us."

"What are the chances that you're both shrinks in disguise?" Piper asked suspiciously.

"There are no chances," Rachel said. "Piper, if you don't like it, we'll bring you straight home. Please, come with us. It's for the best-"

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

Rachel spun around to see Kelli. Shit. The demon cheerleader.

Also, why were there so many monster attacks already? Two Empousai and a Hellhound? That's worrisome. Then again, a daughter of Zeus was powerful enough to attract them and Piper's Charmspeak was extremely powerful, too.

Piper was pale, staring at Kelli. So she could see her for what she really was. Piper's eyes went from the flaming hair, to the copper leg to the donkey one. She backed away slowly.

Rachel readied Katoptris. She mightn't have much battle experience (bar hitting Kronos in the eye with a plaster hair brush) but it was better than letting Thalia take on the evil cheerleader by herself.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at Kelli. Kelli's eyes flickered from Rachel to Thalia. She merely smirked, running forwards. Thalia notched an arrow, firing before she reached Rachel. Kelli tripped, but rolled away and summoned fire. Thalia called lightning down, striking her. Rachel went to stab her, but she somehow managed to get away, firing a ball of flame Piper's way.

Piper stood frozen as it sailed towards her, so Rachel grabbed the nearest thing to her (which was a vase) and intercepted the blow. Glass shards went everywhere, turning orange as they burnt. Rachel felt herself being sliced and flinched, yet she turned back to Kelli. She began to run forwards as Thalia hit the Empousa with arrow after arrow. She went for Kelli's stomach, yet she kicked Rachel back with the copper leg. Rachel fell into the glass. She felt shards cut into her back, tearing her dress and staining it in blood.

XXX

Piper watched in horror as Rachel and the other girl -Thalia, was it- began to fight the demon. So maybe they weren't lying. Maybe Greek Mythology was real. But Piper was shocked into a stupor. She couldn't believe... this. There was a demon on her balcony. There was a fight on her balcony. And looking down, nobody seemed to notice.

When Rachel fell down and didn't move, excluding violent convulsions, Piper managed to get her limbs to obey her as she ran to her strange new friend, glass crunching under her sneakers.

She turned to Thalia battling the monster. "STOP!" Piper screamed. Immediately, both of them froze. What?! How did she do that?! Well, Rachel seemed to know. She stared at the demon who was trying to resist her. "Who sent you?!"

"Hecate, goddess of Magic and the Mist." She noticed Thalia narrow her eyes.

"Why?"

"Because she is looking for a demigod champion."

"Leave," Piper said. She didn't know who this Hecate lady is, and she didn't much care as Rachel was in danger at the moment. The demon began to walk away robotically, but Thalia notched an arrow and shot her in the back. She exploded into golden dust.

"Wh-what was that?!"

"An Empousa," she said, kneeling beside Rachel. "We need to get her out of here." Thalia somehow lifted her up by the back, but when Rachel hissed, she changed the positions to a piggyback style.

"Where? The nearest hospital is another hour away." Thalia cursed, seeming to debate things.

"We'll have to..." she clicked her fingers, staring in front of her. After a couple minutes of silence, a pale boy melted from the shadows. Literally. Piper yelped.

"Will's going to base. Take my hand." Thalia did it straight away, yet Piper hesitated.

"Piper," hissed Thalia. "There's no time." She bit her lip, looking at the now very dark red dress, dyed from her blood, and took the strange boys hand.

Possibly the most disgusting sensation took over her as she felt herself appear in some building. Thalia raced into some room as the boy staggered, having tripped into a table. Piper reached out to steady him.

"Thanks," he said. "Sorry, that's called Shadow Travel." He moved to sit on the ground for a moment before he breathed in deeply and disappeared once more.

Piper didn't know what to do. Her strange new friend was possibly dying, Thalia was tending to her and the boy just disappeared in front of her.

But then the boy appeared with another beside him. "Nico! What have I told you about Shadow Travel!"

"Will," the boy, Nico, said. "I haven't been near that bottle and haven't went across the world. I'm fine. Go to Rachel. And no Ambrosia or Nectar. She's still Mortal."

Will sent him a look. "Watch it. I'm the doctor." He took off after the blood trail.

"So..." Piper trailed off. She stuck out her hand. "I'm Piper McLean."

"Nico di Angelo," he said. "I take it you're confused?"

"Yeah," she said. "Where are we?"

"Rachel told you about our organisation? This is our Headquarters. We weren't meant to bring you here, but circumstances considered..."

Piper looked after the blood trail. "Will she be alright?"

"She's being looked after by best doctor I know." Piper stared at him incredulously. The guy couldn't be much older than them! "Anyways, soon I'm going to bring you to a place called Camp Half Blood. Some of our friends in the organisation are there. Clarisse, Will, Annabeth and Percy. Clarisse, Annabeth and Percy are on a quest right now. It's a place to keep people like us safe."

"I honestly don't understand," Piper said.

"Nobody does at first, really. When we bring you to camp, just say that some older kids found you and directed you here. We have to stay secret."

Piper nodded. She had kept her fair share of secrets. Besides, these guys had saved her life. "Will I be allowed back home?"

"It's your decision," he said. "You have the option to stay during the summer or year round." He looked down at the floor and crouched down. He picked up the knife Rachel had been holding. "I believe this is yours."

"What? No, that's Rachel's. She was fighting that monster with it."

"Thalia got it to give it to you. Believe me, we all need a weapon. This is for you." He insisted she take it, so Piper hesitantly plucked it from his hands.

"Hey, guys!" Will called. "You can come in. I need some supplies."

Nico ran at a pace that didn't seem possible with his skinny (almost anorexic) frame.

Piper entered the room to see the bloodiest sight she'd ever seen in her life. Movies didn't portray things properly.

(A/N The fact that this is being posted on his birthday and that I haven't even had his point of view in this chapter... XD. I know I said that they'd be in Olympus by now but this needed to be written. Also, check out my new Percy Jackson oneshot, In My Heart.)


	9. Owl Face and Water Boy

XXX

"Are you ready?" Annabeth asked. Percy shook his head as they stared up at the Empire State Building. It had been years... and the last they saw of Olympus, it had been in ruins. All of Annabeth's architecture... everything. And the gods... it was going to he hard. Very, very hard, to do this.

"Might as well get it over with," said Clarisse. She had already seen her father. So had Nico. That had to have been harder than they let on.

Annabeth went to the front desk. "We want to go to the 600th floor."

The man shook his head. "No 600th floor, lass."

Annabeth glared at him a glare that made gods run for cover. He shifted uncomfortably. "Look, I'm not in the mood for games. I'm a daughter of Athena, over there's a son of Poseidon and Ares' daughter. We have Zeus' Master Bolt. Now, let us in the gods forsaken elevator or I won't be responsible for my actions." Percy found it funny that this was being said by a twelve year old.

"Alright..." the man squeaked out, pointing to the elevator. He was rather pale.

Annabeth entered the elevator with a smirk on her face. Clarisse raised an eyebrow. "What?" Annabeth asked. "We're in a hurry and being a bitch gets things done faster. I hate it but it's necessary."

Percy nodded, biting his lip. He thought about the duel with Ares. And the Helm... "Annabeth!" Percy exclaimed. "I just realised, the Helm wasn't originally in the bag! We won it off of Ares!"

She rolled her eyes. "I know, Seaweed Brain."

"Y-you do?" he asked, confused.

"Yes. I bargained with Ouranous to do that for us."

"Bargained?" Clarisse asked. "With what?"

Annabeth paled slightly, but only Percy noticed. "Annabeth..." he cautiously started. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," she said, her 'I won't budge, don't test me' look on her face.

"Annabeth! What did you do?!"

"I said nothing, Percy," she said. "Everything's fine."

"Liar," he glared. "Annabeth, we don't keep secrets, remember?!"

She shrugged. "There's nothing to keep."

"Gods!" he exclaimed. "I can't help you if you don't tell me the truth!"

"There's nothing to help or tell! Everything would be fine if you just stay out of my business!" Annabeth shouted.

"Maybe I will!" Percy shouted. "Permanently!"

"Good!" she shouted. "You do that!"

"I will!" Percy exclaimed, turning away from Annabeth. Did this mean they were over?! Was it his fault?! No. She was lying to him. It was her fault. He turned to Clarisse. She was pale and staring at them. "So, Clarisse, how have you been lately?"

Of course, Percy wasn't aware that his eyes were a swirl of emotions and that Clarisse was kind of terrified at the combined anger of Percy and Annabeth.

Before she could force a reply, the elevator opened to show them Olympus. Annabeth left wordlessly, followed by Clarisse and then Percy. He and Annabeth kept on shooting each other glares, Clarisse in the middle of them.

As they approached Olympus, Percy momentarily forgot his anger as he stared at the place he had seen destroyed once, rebuilt, and then once more which had led to the downfall of many, many things.

Percy narrowed his eyes on a statue of Hera. Bitch. That one fell on Thalia once.

("Hey, guys,") Luke said. ("Is everything okay? You've been quiet. And Will, when are you back? Kayla is getting suspicious. I told her you're having a secret affair.")

Will's response was tired. ("Sorry, I was just busy with Rachel.")

An icy chill went up his spine. ("Rachel?")

("Yesterday, er, sorry, on Wednesday, we went to get Piper,") Thalia said. She sounded tired, but also angry. ("We were attacked. And she got hurt. Really hurt.")

("And... how is she?") Percy asked. Annabeth sent him a worried look before she remembered her anger and walked on.

("I did as much as I could, spent two days on her, but she had to be seen by a professional. I couldn't look after her alone. She's in hospital right now.")

("Comatose?") Annabeth guessed.

("Yeah. Piper hasn't left her side. She feels guilty.")

("We better go,") said Thalia. ("Nico, bring Piper and Will to Camp. When you're back, help me clean up the infirmary.") Bile rose in his throat. Zeus only knew how bloody it was.

"We're here," Clarisse whispered, though she was definitely distracted. Percy glanced at Clarisse, glared at Annabeth and opened the door. He hated when Annabeth kept secrets like this. He wanted to trust her, he really did! But secrets between him and Annabeth would only put a strain on their relationship. Especially since Percy knew Annabeth was endangering herself.

They entered through the doors and Percy nearly walked out at the sight of eleven Olympians. Of course. They were here days earlier. Things were different. Only Ares wasn't here. He also spotted Hestia beside a Hearth. His bad mood intensified.

Percy bit his lip, drawing in a deep breath and walking forwards. Annabeth and Clarisse followed. Even a blind man could see that they didn't want to be there.

Percy bowed to Zeus, first, recalling his annoyance the first time he addressed Poseidon first. Percy purposefully didn't look at any of the other Olympians, especially Poseidon. He might break down then and there. "Rise," Zeus rumbled. He didn't give Percy a chance to speak before saying, "where is my Master Bolt, thief?"

"I did not steal it," Percy raised his eyes defiantly. Obviously, he had intended to give a good impression, but Zeus was so annoying!

"Where is it?" Zeus repeated. Percy slung the bag off of his shoulders, tossing the bag to Zeus. He caught it easily, especially considering he was currently the size of a giant. Seriously, to Zeus the bag was the size of a small eraser to a normal person. A very, very small eraser. Zeus opened the bag, smirking at the sight of his bolt. He took it out, resizing it so that it went back to threatening and ugly. "So you are the thief."

"No," Percy said. He glanced at Clarisse. "We don't know who stole it. But we know who had it."

"Who?" Zeus asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Ares," Annabeth said. There was a gasp from Aphrodite, a grunt of contempt from Hephaestus and Zeus rose to his full height angrily. Annabeth looked unperturbed. "He asked us to retrieve his shield, as I'm sure you know. To make a long story short, we realised that the bag was getting heavier as we neared Hades' Palace. They were trying to frame Hades and, we think, bring the bolt to Tartarus, we think. We were practically getting dragged there."

Athena narrowed her eyes. "They?"

Annabeth averted her eyes. Clarisse clearer her throat. "We've been having dreams of a person named 'The Crooked One'. He wants to rise. And I believe we all know who he is." That was the plan. They wouldn't accept that Kronos was rising, but they'd at least have the idea in their heads.

"Brother," Poseidon started, turning to Zeus. Percy flinched, looking down. "You do know what this means?" Zeus frowned. He began to confer with Poseidon in Greek. Athena interrupted in an unfamiliar language, casting a wary look at Annabeth and Clarisse and an unsure look Percy's way. The other Olympians interrupted at times.

("Irish,") Annabeth said. ("Smart. They realise that we are fluent this time.")

("I didn't speak Greek fluently last time,") Percy protested, rolling his eyes. ("You weren't even there.")

("Shut up, you two!") Clarisse groaned.

("The lovebirds fighting?") asked a familiar redhead. Her voice was groggy. Percy couldn't help but grin. Annabeth kicked him and he forced his face to be blank.

("Rachel! You're awake!") Percy said.

("Just now,") she said. ("Having shards of glass in your back hurts like you wouldn't imagine!")

("How are you?") Clarisse asked.

("I'll live,") Rachel said. ("I can't move, though. I might just go back to sle-...") her voice cut off and Percy could only guess she was snoozing.

"All discussion on the previous topic is off limits," boomed Zeus. Percy sighed. Of course. "Disobey the order and you will have to face me!" Percy rolled his eyes. Like that was scary.

"Brother-" Poseidon attempted to argue.

"Enough, Poseidon," said Zeus. "He's dead."

"He can't die!" Demeter exclaimed. "Only fade! And you know as well as I that he hasn't been forgotten!"

"We cut him into pieces!" Hera shouted. "He can't be back."

"Erm," Percy raised his hand as if in class. The gods looked at them, as if forgetting they were present. "If I may? We never said he's back. Just that he's rising."

"And he will," said Annabeth. "If nothing is done."

"Enough!" Zeus said. "He won't rise." Zeus sighed and muttered, "next you'll be telling me Ouranous is back!" Percy made sure not to glance at his friends with this ironic mutter. "Hermes! Apollo! Artemis! Find Ares! He has me to answer to."

Percy averted his eyes as they flashed away. Zeus' eyes swiveled to them. "I suppose you are expecting a reward?"

Percy bit his lip thoughtfully. He knew Zeus wouldn't give up anything useful, so no requesting the whole 'recognise everyone!' thing.

But there were still the little things...

"Um, at camp. All of the unclaimed demigods are crammed into the Hermes cabin. There's barely room to breathe. I was wondering if we could, I dunno, build a cabin for unclaimed demigods or something. Possibly add onto the Big House and put them there."

Zeus observed him, narrowing his eyes. His eyes flickered down to Hestia, then to Hermes' empty throne. For some reason Percy thought he seemed sad. It disappeared before he could be sure.

"Go ahead," he waved his hand dismissively, clicking his fingers. Percy wasn't sure if he was as dismissive as he appeared. "It's done." Percy gaped. Last time they'd spent loads of time and resources on making the cabins and Zeus supposedly makes one with a click of his fingers? Unbelievable! "And you two?"

Clarisse nervously glanced at Annabeth. Annabeth was smirking. "To speak freely about any of the gods without any retribution."

Zeus looked at her weirdly but nodded anyways. "Your wish is granted." Hera was going to despise Annabeth even more. Percy tried not to laugh. He glanced at Clarisse. She looked unsure. "And you?"

"Um, I want to save it. I want to be able to call in this wish at any point in the future."

"Agreed," Zeus said. He looked at them boredly. "You're dismissed."

Percy was happy to leave the large room. They bowed once more and left the hall. Percy was curious about something. "Why did he reward us this time?"

"I think mom might've suggested it. Only Poseidon was there last time," Annabeth answered automatically. Their eyes met and Percy looked away determinedly.

"I see," Percy said. "Well, we have time until Luke... does it."

Annabeth looked down with a sigh. Clarisse rolled her eyes. "Will you two stop being so damn sentimental?" she grunted. To Percy, it seemed forced. Clarisse stared absently at a statue of Ares. Percy tilted his head.

"I'm surprised you didn't use your wish for him," said Percy. Clarisse's eyes stated glued to the statue. Her eyes narrowed slightly. Percy thought he saw unshed tears glistening. And then she surprised him. She looked away and smiled.

"I didn't need to," Clarisse said.

Percy glanced back to see a person he was actively trying to avoid. Athena was also there. Clarisse followed his gaze. "I'll give you guys some alone time," she said, starting to leave.

"No," said Annabeth. "There might be some monsters around. Besides, they're our parents. Two minutes will be a record."

Annabeth started forwards and Percy heaved a sigh. He looked at the god.

Was there ever a good time to talk with your absentee father when your last memory of them was him being chained up and sent to Tartarus?

Percy didn't think so.

XXX

"Hey," Percy awkwardly said.

"Hello," Poseidon smiled down at him. "How are you, son?"

"I'm- I'm good." Percy looked at Annabeth. She looked like she was going to start crying any second now. Of course, only he noticed Annabeth's give aways. She was tense and pale. She always tried to hold back her tears, which only resulted in a headache. Percy was mad at her, but that didn't mean he still didn't worry. Percy didn't feel much better than Annabeth. "And you?"

"Good," Poseidon cleared his throat. "I have a... question for you."

"Oh?" Percy asked. This was bad. Athena and Poseidon were planning something.

("They're up to something,") Annabeth said.

("I know,") Percy said, smiling at his father. ("Athena asking you a question, too?")

("Oui,") Annabeth said, absently. Athena had just said something.

"Where have you been?" Poseidon asked. "Since you were from about four to eleven, you've been missing. I couldn't find you anywhere." Shit. So Poseidon had noticed? He honestly hadn't noticed.

Percy shrugged. "I got lost one day and I didn't remember my way home. I just wandered around, I guess."

"To Vegas?" Poseidon asked. Percy raised an eyebrow. "Percy, I am your father. The second I realised you were back, I worked with Athena to find out where you were. I've seen footage of you with other demigods."

"Okay," Percy shrugged. "Might've just ran into each other. I don't remember any."

"I did say that I worked with Athena, didn't I?" he asked. "Let's go talk with them, shall we?"

Poseidon strode towards Athena. Athena looked him up and down. "So, will either of you shed some light on the situation?"

"There's no light to shed," Percy shrugged.

"How long have you two known each other?" Poseidon asked.

"A few weeks," Annabeth said.

"Do either of you know somebody by the name of Thalia Grace or Nico di Angelo?"

Percy forced himself not to tense up. "No, why?"

"Nothing," Poseidon said. "We just think that they're related to somebody we know."

Annabeth furrowed her eyebrows. "Okay, then..." good acting.

("Clarisse, look annoyed,") Annabeth instructed.

"We should get going now," Percy said. "Clarisse is probably getting impatient."

"Probably?" Annabeth asked with a snort. "Look at her, she's going to blow a gasket."

As Annabeth said goodbye to Athena, Percy smiled at his father. "Until next time?"

"Until next time," Poseidon said. He looked like he wanted to hug Percy, but all he did was shake his hand. Percy wished he could bring himself to hug Poseidon.

In the elevator, Annabeth groaned as elevator music played. "They definitely know we're lying."

"I missed something, didn't I?" Clarisse asked.

"It's Athena, of course she's suspicious," Percy groaned. He turned to Clarisse. "They've found some connections on us. They know about Nico and Thalia, though dad did say 'they're related to someone we know'."

"That was a lie, idiot," Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Of course it's a lie. I'm not stupid."

"Debatable, water boy."

"Shut up, owl face."

"Seaweed brain."

"Nerd."

"Geek."

"Shut up!" Clarisse thundered. "Look everyone knows that you're hopelessly in love. Now, please, you're giving me a headache."

Percy didn't feel very chastised.

The elevator doors opened and Percy was happy to step out.

"It's time to go home."


End file.
